A former care worker who shared degrading photographs she took of dementia patients at a Co Armagh hospital on Snapchat has been given a probation order and must complete 100 hours of community service.Ciara Corvan (28) committed the offences while working as a healthcare assistant at a specialist ward for dementia patients at the Bluestone Unit at Craigavon Area Hospital.Passing sentence at Craigavon Crown Court on Monday, Judge Patrick McGurgan said Corvan, from Cathedrals View in Co Armagh, had failed to treat patients in her care with the respect and dignity that they were entitled to.Among the images Corvan sent to co-workers on Snapchat was a picture of a woman patient in the bath; a video of her shaking a patient’s hand while music played in the background with a caption claiming she was having a “rave”; and a picture of her and a patient with their noses almost touching with the caption “why the f*** is she so close to me?“Corvan previously pleaded guilty to seven counts of ill treatment of patients under the Mental Health Order (NI) 1986. The offences, which happened between autumn 2022 and summer 2023, involved four dementia patients on the ward. All four have since died.Police said the case was the first prosecution of its kind in Northern Ireland, and the judge told Corvan her crimes were committed while she was in a position of trust.“You were employed to provide care for some of the most vulnerable members of our society,” he said.“It is a hard enough decision, in my view, for a family to make to place a loved one in a care setting, particularly when that loved one is as vulnerable as the victims were in this case.“The very least families can expect is that those who are entrusted to care for their loved ones are treated with respect and dignity. You, Ms Corvan, failed to do that.”‘Completely helpless’The judge praised the actions of the co-workers in the unit who received the Snapchat messages and reported Corvan’s actions to managers. Police were then alerted.He said the defendant’s offending involved the “degrading and humiliation of those who were completely helpless to defend themselves”.During the hearing, the judge summarised victim impact statements provided by relatives of the patients involved. He sentenced Corvan to a two-year probation order and 100 hours of community service.He warned Corvan, who now works for a grocery business, that if she breached the order, she would be returned to court and would face the imposition of a custodial sentence.A barrister for the defendant told the court she had written a letter of apology to the families.The barrister said Corvan was “truly sorry” and acknowledged that she could not expect to be forgiven, but did express hope that the families could see the “sincerity of her regret”.“I just wish to be quite clear that Ms Corvan is not in any way trying to minimise her actions, and has the deepest regret for the pain and suffering that both the victims in this case, and their families, and extended families and loved ones have suffered as a result of her actions,” the barrister said. After the sentencing hearing, the families said in a statement: “Our relatives were private, kind individuals who could not speak for themselves in their final years, and what was done to them was a gross violation of their basic human rights.Shirley Adamson reads a statement on behalf of the families of the patients affected by Ciara Corvan's actions to the media outside Craigavon Crown Court. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire “While no sentence can undo the harm, we are grateful for the acknowledgment that this type of behaviour is indeed criminal conduct and that justice can be served against those who mock and torment the vulnerable.”The families said Corvan “sought entertainment in humiliating” patients who were already “tormented every day through the slow and cruel loss of their ability to do even the most basic personal tasks”.“She took advantage of the fact that our family members were suffering from a disease that meant they could not even communicate what they had endured.”PSNI Det Chief Insp Claire McDonald said the victims in the case were “some of the most vulnerable” in society and were “subjected to degrading and mocking behaviour”. “Corvan exploited their vulnerabilities, specifically their lack of capacity and communication, for her own entertainment.” – PA