EXCLUSIVE
A heartless nurse has been summarily sacked from caring for residents of a nursing home for the elderly after Daily Mail Australia readers exposed her new boss to her dark past.
Sudiksha Ahuja was caring for dementia patients at a care home in Junee, just outside Wagga Wagga in the New South Wales Riverina, in late 2021 when she pulled off one of the cruelest ‘pranks’ imaginable.
At the urging of a colleague, the young nurse pretended to bash in a baby’s head by slamming the face of a therapy doll against a table, knowing that a frail, dementia patient watching thought it was a real newborn.
Ahuja – called ‘Sudi’ by her friends – laughed as the brutal baby-killing ‘prank’ reduced her traumatised patient to tears.
Although she left the New South Wales nursing home after the scandal, the registered nurse simply moved to another state and began working with vulnerable elderly residents of a care home on the Mornington Peninsula.
But this week her past caught up with her.
Daily Mail Australia reported on Thursday morning that the registered nurse had been found guilty of “callous and deplorable” professional misconduct for her disturbing behaviour.
On Thursday afternoon she no longer had a job in elderly care.
Sudiksha Ahuja pretended to bash a baby’s head in by slamming a therapy doll’s face against a table, knowing that a terrified dementia patient watching believed it was all real
The sick ‘baby murder’ stunt took place while Ahuja was working at the Junee Multipurpose Service centre near Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina
She was fired after Daily Mail Australia readers alerted Ahuja’s bosses Pearl Home Care is located in the town of Mornington, approximately an hour’s drive south of Melbourne.
“As a Mornington resident I can tell you that we do not appreciate abuses against our large elderly population,” one reader told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I messaged Pearl Aged Care at 6:30am and thanks to your help and that of many other good people, this heartless nurse has been fired.
‘I have worked in aged care and have contacted several senior nurses this morning about this issue. I can tell you with certainty that Sudiksha Ahuja will not find employment in Mornington again.’
The home has sent messages to concerned members of the close-knit coastal community, saying: “She has been dismissed from our organisation. We were not aware of this.”
Pearl Home Care told concerned Daily Mail Australia readers that it had fired Ahuja
The aged care centre, which prides itself on “treating older Australians with dignity and care”, has also removed Ahuja from the list of team members on its website.
The care home declined to comment on Ahuja’s resignation when contacted by Daily Mail Australia, but confirmed that “she no longer works for the company”.
Locals praised Pearl Home Care for its proactive and prompt response.
“We wanted to thank you for your article,” someone said. “Hopefully she doesn’t keep jumping from state to state.”
The New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal is now hearing applications to ban Ahuja from working in the sector.
The Health Care Complaints Commission has asked the court to revoke Ahuja’s registration, with a period of six to 12 months during which no review takes place.
This comes after the court on Monday found her guilty of both unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct.
The elderly patient with dementia believed that the therapy doll was her real newborn baby
The court found in its ruling that Ahuja deliberately smashed the therapy doll’s face against a dining table at the Junee nursing home on December 9, 2001, knowing it would cause her 82-year-old patient extreme pain.
“(Ahuja) did this knowing that (the patient) believed the dolls were real babies and with the intention of eliciting a response,” the tribunal said in its judgment.
‘(She) behaved in this manner to entertain herself and (her colleague) at the expense of the patient.
‘She found the situation funny and laughed at the patient’s misery.’
The court said Ahuja’s “attempted collusion” with one of the witnesses by contacting her via Snapchat and unsuccessfully trying to convince her to lie about the incident to avoid responsibility “increased her sense of guilt.”
Despite the seriousness of the ruling, Ahuja told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday she had been “too busy” to read the court’s decision.
The court will determine an appropriate sentence after a new hearing on October 14.
