The mother of several disabled children has spoken of her fear that one of them died before her family could ask about her care from a woman who admitted wilfully neglecting her sister.
Katarzyna Kowalska, 52, of Oakley Drive, Spalding, admitted being a care worker who neglected Eve Hillier at the 20-year-old’s Holbeach home, between November 24 and December 3, 2023.
Magistrates at Boston were last week shown several CCTV images of Eve, who has the nerve condition Leighs Encephalopathy and needs round the clock care, being moved by her hair.
She was present in the court hearing via a mobile ventilator along with her mum Tina, sister Christina, carers and friends.
Magistrates were told Tina saw Kowalska moving Eve by her ponytail at 7am on December 3,and immediately went to confront her.
She then went through the two weeks of the camera footage available and found 16 other occasions.
Tina has adopted four disabled young people and, in a victim statement read out in court, spoke of the impact of seeing the videos in the same week another of her daughters, Rosie, died.
Kowalska had initially been hired to look after another daughter, Rosie, who was also non-verbal.
“It is never easy to get Rosie into bed,” Tina said. “When Kate (Katarzyna) was around, Rosie was straight into her room. This was very unlike Rosie.
“This all came out when Rosie became ill and passed away.
“Because of that, we were never in a position to ask her about Kate’s care of her.”
After being confronted with the video Kowalska was ordered to leave and then sent a text to Tina apologising, the court heard.
Defence solicitor Jacob Bacon told the court that the defendant did not believe she was inflicting any pain on Eve.
The court was told Kowalska came to the UK in 2013 and had a daughter and son, the latter now back in Poland.
She’d also been diagnosed with depression and had injured her knee and had back issues.
“She expresses remorse and she loves both children like they are her own,” Mr Bacon said.
Kowalska was given a 12 week suspended prison sentence suspended for 12 months and was ordered to pay £200 compensation to Tina Hillier.
The family are raising money in memory of Rosie. The full story is here.
