A senior nurse at a care home faces jail after being found guilty of brutally assaulting a vulnerable patient.

Yoosoof Assen, 63, kicked the 55-year-old dementia sufferer in the back as she lay on the floor of her room in Grennell Lodge, Sutton.

The woman was left screaming in pain, with a massive abrasion to her back after a kick like a “footballer taking a penalty”.

Assen, of Kendor Avenue, Epsom, who had worked at the care home for seven-and-a-half years and was a staff supervisor, denied the attack on June 8 last year.

He knew his victim would not remember how she got her injuries because of her dementia.

But two colleagues, nurse Karen Clapp and chef Rosemary Kenny, shopped Assen after being horrified by his actions.

At Croydon Magistrates’ Court on Monday he was found guilty of assault by beating the patient at the care home in All Saints Road, which has beds for 32 residents with mental health problems.

Mrs Clapp, 51, of Sutton, now a nurse at the Royal Marsden, said the incident began after the resident was put into her room so she could go to the toilet.

Mrs Clapp said she heard Assen shouting at the resident, who was screaming, to get back into her room.

She peered into the bedroom to see the woman holding on to the corner of her bed attempting to scramble up on to it.

She said: “She was crouching on the floor crying and appeared to me to be in a right state.

“As I had peered in Yoosef backed off her and took a glance over his right shoulder seemingly to see if anyone was behind him. He must not have seen me.

“He took three or four steps back towards the door, waited a second and then with his right foot made a swing towards [the woman] in what I can only describe as someone taking a penalty kick.

“It appeared he kicked as hard as he could. You could tell by the yelp she gave out there was a lot of intent there.”

Mrs Clapp was told by her friend, Rosemary Kenny, who also worked at the home and witnessed the aftermath of the attack, to report the incident.

Mrs Kenny said: “Mr Assen was a real Jekyll and Hyde character. He was charming but he also had a temper.”

Danny Shamtally, an owner of Care Unlimited, the company that runs the home, said: “We were shocked this could happen at one of our homes.

“As soon as the matter was reported through our whistleblowing procedures, we followed all the proper procedures and Assen was immediately suspended.

“When it became a criminal matter Mr Assen was dismissed.”

He praised the whistleblowers for coming forward. He said Assen was an experienced nurse who had passed all CRB checks.

Sutton Council’s spokesman on adult services, Councillor Colin Stears, said the council, which has two residents in the home, launched a comprehensive adult safeguarding investigation as soon as it became aware of the allegations, and the residents were assessed to be safe.

He said: “Sutton Council has been working closely with the police and we are pleased to see that justice has been served against this man who abused the trust placed in him.

“Residents and their families should feel confident that care homes are safe places where some of our most vulnerable residents are looked after and treated well.”

Assen will be sentenced on September 7.