The 61-year-old carer claimed the witnesses who saw her didn’t like her and had fabricated the allegation against her
16:32, 10 Jul 2026Updated 16:57, 10 Jul 2026
The Bro Cerwyn Centre in Haverfordwest (Image: Google Maps)
A carer at a mental health facility subjected a patient to “rough, unfeeling, callous treatment”, a court has heard. A judge told Rayanne Mason that while he had no doubt dealing with the patient had been a “challenging experience”, caring for him was the job she had been trained and employed to do.
The 61-year-old defendant denied any wrong-doing saying the witnesses were on friendly terms with one another, were “ageist” against her, and didn’t like her. She said the allegation against her had been fabricated.
The court heard that the incident happened at Bro Cerwyn Centre in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in May last year when the defendant took hold of a male patient. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here
Rayanne Mason, of Honeyborough Green, Neyland, Pembrokeshire, had previously been convicted at trial at Swansea Crown Court of one count of being a carer who ill-treated / wilfully neglected a person without capacity when she returned to the dock for sentencing.
Harry Dickens, for Mason, said given the jury’s verdict and his client’s maintenance of her innocence, he was unable to advance any remorse. He invited the judge to find that what happened was a “restraint that went further than it should have done” and to find the incident was as a result of the defendant’s “anger or frustration” rather than any malicious intent to cause harm.
The barrister said Mason was awaiting the results of a disciplinary process from the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and he said his client fully expected the outcome would be the loss of her professional status which would, in itself, be a punishment.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told the defendant her “rough, unfeeling, callous treatment” of a particularly vulnerable individual had brought her nursing career to an “ignominious end”. He said he had no doubt that looking after the patient in question would have been a “challenging experience” but said caring for him was what the defendant was trained and employed to do.
The judge said he accepted the incident involved a loss of temper on the part of Mason, and said it was a shame that she did not have the courage to admit what she had done. He said the defendant had shown “not a scintilla of remorse”.
The judge said there were no sentencing guidelines for the offence before the court, but said in coming to the correct sentence he’d had regard to the guidelines for the offence of assault by beating.
Mason was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course.
The judge said he suspected the defendant’s loss of employment, career, and professional recognition was likely to be the real punishment in the case, but he told Mason she only had herself to blame for that.