WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT
A severely disabled woman was subjected to horrific abuse by three carers who abused, humiliated and harassed her, hidden camera footage reveals.
Lee-Anne Mackey, 53, who suffers from cerebral palsy and osteoporosis, is nonverbal and uses a wheelchair, was tormented by abusive staff at the NDIS Scope provider between 2019 and 2020.
Footage from a camera secretly placed by her father, Rob, shows Lisa Wilson, Monika Paniczko and Anastasia Moutsos, laughing and joking as she is cruelly abused.
Paniczko can be seen spitting in Ms Mackey’s mouth and saying he wants to give her Covid-19.
Another video shows Wilson sticking his fingers and a cylinder into the helpless woman’s mouth, laughing as Mackey jokes, “She doesn’t have a gag reflex.”
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said the images were “simply evil” and warned Scope they will be put under a microscope.
Wilson put his fingers and a cylinder in the helpless woman’s mouth, laughing as Mrs. Mackey joked and said, “She doesn’t have a gag reflex.”
While 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.
His father installed a small camera in her room after an investigation by the nonprofit dismissed allegations of abuse, which only escalated the caregivers’ actions.
In other images Wilson can be seen cleaning Ms Mackey’s crotch before rubbing it in her face and asking her: “Can you smell your vagina?”
Paniczko, who spent 17 years caring for Ms Mackey, can be seen speaking about healthcare workers who were diagnosed and died from Covid-19.
“Maybe I have crown…if I have it, I want you to have it too,” Paniczko told Mrs. Mackey, before leaning towards her and spitting in her mouth.
“There you go, we both have it.”
Ms Mackey’s parents said she was “not the same” after the investigation escalated her abuse of carers.
“It’s a betrayal of Lee-Anne and it’s actually a betrayal of the good people who work in the disability space,” Shorten told 60 Minutes.
‘I don’t want to believe that there are people who 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 nonverbal and uses a wheelchair, was at the mercy of abusive staff at the NDIS Scope provider between 2019 and 2020.
Mackey sent the footage to Scope, who fired Wilson and passed it on to Victoria Police, who opened an investigation into the matter.
However, Paniczko and another woman, Anastasia Moutsos, were only moved 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 pleaded guilty at Broadmeadows Magistrates Court in Victoria in June 2022.
However, the three disgraced workers will appeal their pleas to the Victoria County Court and will soon be able to return to work in disability supportive care.
The woman who spat in the helpless woman’s mouth, Monika Paniczko (pictured), will have her sentence dropped after apologizing to Ms Mackey.
Wilson, considered the ringleader, was ordered to perform 175 hours of community service.
Paniczko was able to successfully withdraw his guilty plea and the only charge against him was dropped after he was only made to acknowledge his responsibility.
He was also asked to give Ms Mackey a verbal and written apology and to donate $500 to Lort Smith Animal Hospital.
Moutsos and Wilson were also able to revoke their guilty pleas and were only required to complete unpaid community work.
Wilson, considered the ringleader, was ordered to perform 175 hours of community service and Moutsos only received 80.
Paniczko and Moutsos were only banned from working in the NDIS for three years, while Wilson was banned for five years.
Mackey’s mother Lorraine said the trio got off “lightly” for “ruining Lee-Anne’s life”.