S'pore nursing home staff, 31, hits dementia patient, 87, multiple times, choked him as he was talking

A former nursing home employee pushed and choked an 87-year-old patient with dementia, causing the elderly man to fall and hit his head on the bed rails.

On Jan. 15, 2026, Hennayaka Mudiyenselage Damith Chathuranga H., 31, was handed a 13-week jail term after pleading guilty to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt to a vulnerable person.

The Sri Lankan man was working as a Healthcare Assistant at Ren Ci @ Woodlands and was responsible for taking care of patients at the nursing home.

Damith's actions on Jul. 11, 2025, were discovered after a routine check of CCTV footage by the nursing home.

Victim suffered from hyperactive delirium & dementia

The elderly victim, a Singaporean man, resided at the hospital and had no next of kin in Singapore.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Kai noted that the elderly man was a vulnerable person with a fall risk and suffered from hyperactive delirium, dementia and osteoporosis with fragility.

"The victim was also accessed to have no mental capacity for personal and healthcare decisions."

Besides being unable to weigh his own decisions, the elderly man was almost completely bedridden and entirely dependent on the nursing home employees for help with daily living.

Choked victim twice

On Jul. 11 at around 5pm, Damith and his colleague were tasked with bringing four patients back to their respective beds, but Damith had been preoccupied with amending the duty roster and had gone for a break at around 5:30pm.

His colleague's shift ended at 6pm, resulting in Damith having to care for the patients solo.

At 6:44pm, Damith wheeled the victim to his bed, lifting the elderly man onto the bed roughly before changing his diaper.

Whilst doing so, the accused used his left hand to push against the victim's head, causing the elderly man's head to hit the hospital bed rails.

As Damith tried to place a clean diaper under the victim's buttocks, he used his right hand to choke the elderly man.

Damith released his grip on the victim's neck to lift the victim's legs and slide the diaper under him.

Immediately after, Damith used his right hand to choke the elderly man a second time as the victim was trying to talk.

Restrained victim with body vest

Damith "proceeded to place a body vest restraint onto the victim and tied both ends of the restraint to the bed frame".

Once tethered, Damith used his right hand to hit the back of the victim's head.

Damith placed a blanket over the victim and hit him again, before leaving the victim to rest.

At around 7:05pm, Damith saw that the victim had his legs hanging over the bed rail.

He walked up to the bed and hit the back of the victim's head before he "forcefully shifted the Victim’s body back onto the bed".

As he was about to leave, the victim "made some noises", and Damith returned, hitting the back of the victim's head once more.

Subsequent medical checks did not reveal injuries, and the victim could not recall the two incidents.

Nursing home found out a day later

In a media statement to The Straits Times, Ren Ci Hospital stated that it was made aware of the incidents on Jul. 12, 2025.

“Upon knowledge of the case, we took immediate action, suspending the staff for the duration of the internal investigation and reaching out to the resident’s family.”

A board of inquiry was also convened, and Damith was subsequently dismissed.

The police report was filed on Jul. 15 and on Jul. 18, Damith was arrested.

The spokesperson for Ren Ci Hospital also told ST that they had reinforced staff training to prevent future incidents and will continue to be vigilant.

Top photo from Canva.