Abuse Of Disabled Woman Caught On Camera

Strathmoor Manor, an adult care facility in Detroit, recently had its foster care license suspended in the wake of a horrific video released to the press. The footage captured documentation of one of the facility’s caregivers, Kadia Konate-Dennard, violently abusing a young disabled woman who was a resident there.

 
The Michigan Department of Human Services announced on Monday, June 9th, that it has suspended the license of Strathmoor Manor pending an investigation, and fully intends to revoke it. The foster care facility was licensed by the state to care for six residents.

 
The footage, which was captured using a cell phone by another employee named Dominique Blade, shows Dennard beating a resident with an extension cord and a metal broom handle. The victim is shown cowering and screaming on her bed, trying to cover her face and hide under her blanket.

 
The victim of the abuse, 24-year-old Vera Gossett, had been living there since 2007. According to her mother, she has severe autism and is unable to speak, and as a result, unable to defend herself or even report the abuse.

 
Blade, the certified nursing assistant who filmed the incident, had only recently begun working at Strathmoor Manor and was so horrified by the abuse that she witnessed there that she decided to get proof and make it public. “It was heartbreaking,” she says.

 
Blade says that when she confronted Dennard about the abuse, she was told “‘This is the way you have to handle her, she’s an animal, you have to handle her and deal with her like this!” According to Blade, there were special needs and mentally-challenged residents living in Strathmoor Manor, all of whom were abused by the employees.

 
“They was beat, they was slapped, just taken advantage of because they couldn’t talk or really do nothing for themselves,” Blade told the press during an interview. She also reported that the owner knew what was happening in the foster home, but did nothing about it.

 
The owner of Strathmoor Manor is Bartholomew Ajulufoh. According to the Department of Human Services, Ajulufoh has been investigated in the past for violations, the most recent being a case last year where he was found guilty for the improper restraint of another resident.

 
Ajulufoh also owns four other group homes: two in Detroit, one in Southfield and one in Highland Park. DHS has not yet made any statement about whether or not they intend to conduct investigations at any of these other homes.

 
Dennard has been bound over for trial and will face felony assault, torture and vulnerable adult abuse charges. She is being held on a $200,000 bond.