WARNING TERRIBLE CONTENT
A severely disabled woman was subjected to horrific abuse by three female carers who abused, humiliated and bullied her, hidden camera footage has revealed.
Lee-Anne Mackey, 53, who suffers from cerebral palsy and osteoporosis, is non-verbal and uses a wheelchair, was tormented by abusive staff at NDIS provider Scope between 2019 and 2020.
Footage from a camera secretly installed by her father Rob shows Lisa Wilson, Monika Paniczko and Anastasia Moutsos laughing and joking as they brutalized her.
Paniczko is seen spitting in Ms Mackey’s mouth and saying she wants to give her Covid-19.
Another video shows Wilson putting her fingers and a cylinder into the helpless woman’s mouth, laughing as Ms. Mackey jokes, saying, “She doesn’t have a gag reflex.”
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said the images were ‘simply bad’ and warned Scope they will be put under a microscope.
Wilson stuck her fingers and a cylinder into the helpless woman’s mouth, laughing as Mrs. Mackey jokes and says, “She has no gag reflex.”
Although Ms. Mackey’s disabilities affect her physically, she is not mentally disabled and was able to alert her parents to the abuse by communicating with her eyes.
Her father installed a small camera in her room after an investigation by the nonprofit dismissed the claims of abuse, which only served to fuel the caregivers’ actions.
In other footage, Wilson is seen wiping Ms Mackey’s crotch before rubbing it on her face and asking her: ‘can you smell your vagina?’.
Paniczko, who cared for Ms Mackey for 17 years, can be seen talking about healthcare workers being diagnosed and dying from Covid-19.
“Maybe I have corona… if I have it, I want you to have it too,” Paniczko told Ms Mackey, before leaning over and spitting into her mouth.
“Please, we both have it.”
Ms Mackey’s parents both said she ‘wasn’t the same’ after the abuse from carers escalated through the investigation.
“It’s a betrayal of Lee-Anne and in fact a betrayal of the good people who work in disability services,” Shorten told 60 Minutes.
“I don’t want to believe that there are people who will treat other people the way I saw in that video.
‘These people act with such callous indifference towards Lee-Anne, it’s just shocking. It’s cruel.’
Lee-Anne Mackey, 53, who suffers from cerebral palsy and osteoporosis, is non-verbal and uses a wheelchair, was at the mercy of abusive staff at NDIS provider Scope between 2019 and 2020
Mr Mackey sent the footage to Scope, who fired Wilson and passed it on to Victorian police, who opened an investigation into the matter.
However, Paniczko and another woman, Anastasia Moutsos, were transferred alone to another residential home.
The not-for-profit company is a major NDIS provider in New South Wales and Victoria and received more than $88 million from the government in 2019.
They were both fired six months later after police laid assault charges against the trio, who all pleaded guilty at the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court in Victoria in June 2022.
However, the three disgraced workers are expected to appeal their pleas in Victoria’s County Court and could soon be able to work in disability services again.
The woman who spat in the defenseless woman’s mouth, Monika Paniczko (pictured), will have her conviction overturned after apologizing to Ms Mackey
Wilson, who was considered the ringleader, was ordered to perform 175 hours of community service
Paniczko was able to successfully withdraw her guilty plea and the only charge against her was dropped after she was forced to admit responsibility alone.
She was also ordered to issue a verbal and written apology to Ms. Mackey and donate $500 to the Lort Smith Animal Hospital.
Moutsos and Wilson were also both able to have their guilty pleas overturned and only had to complete unpaid community work.
Wilson, considered the ringleader, was ordered to do 175 hours of community service and Moutsos was only given 80.
Paniczko and Moutsos were banned from working at the NDIS for just three years, while Wilson was removed for five years.
Ms Mackey’s mother, Lorraine, said the trio were released ‘lightly’ because they had ‘ruined Lee-Anne’s life’.