Care home nurse weeps as she is cleared of neglect

Barbara Kowalska was said to have belittled the bewildered man, calling him “dirty and filthy”.
The jury at Reading Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Miss Kowalska, who was living at London Road, Newbury, even threatened to make him eat it.
But it took jurors little more than one hour to find Miss Kowalska not guilty yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon.
The 34-year-old, who has since returned to her native Poland, collapsed in tears as the verdict was announced.
The incident was said to have happened at the BUPA-run Donnington Residential and Nursing Home in Wantage Road.
Miss Kowalski had denied a single count of the neglect of a person with mental incapacity sometime in August 2012.
Michael Williams, prosecuting, said Miss Kowalska, a registered nurse, had been called to help care assistant Tina Braybrooke clean up the pensioner after he was found in his room, covered in urine and faeces. He said it was then that she launched her cruel tirade.
He said “During the cleaning up Miss Kowalska had got faeces on her glove and Tina Braybrooke describes her using her finger to smear faeces on (his) nose.”
He said Miss Kowalski then used crude terms to warn him: “If you do this again you'll be eating (excrement).”
The court heard Miss Braybrooke later reported the incident to a colleague, and the matter was then reported to police by the home’s general manager.
Giving evidence yesterday (Wednesday), Miss Kowalska said of Ms Braybrook’s evidence: “I don’t know why she would say that.” She also denied telling a carer that “I have no compassion and I don't care if you report me”, and told jurors: “I just try to do the best that I can.”