A carer attacked a wheelchair-bound 93-year-old dementia sufferer on Christmas Day.

Rythma Anupam, 33, faces up to 12 months in jail for punching the frail pensioner in the face, leaving her in floods of tears.

Anupam was supposed to be taking care of the OAP, who was confined to a wheelchair, on December 25, 2013 but she punched her in the face, pulled her by the arms, slapped her on the arm and pinched and twisted her cheeks.

Anupam then told a shocked colleague who witnessed the attack: "She was doing my head in."

She denied three assaults on two mentally and physically disabled female pensioners she was supposed to be looking after at Wellmeadow Nursing Home in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow.

She claimed colleagues had conspired to tell lies against her and pointed out that an internal investigation cleared her of any blame.

However, after it emerged no eyewitnesses were interviewed as part of the internal investigation, she was convicted of the three attacks following her Paisley Sheriff Court trial.

Her victims were in such a poor state of physical and mental health they need help getting washed and dressed and were unable to give evidence against her.

The court heard that, as well as the Christmas Day attack on the woman, Anupam assaulted her again six weeks later, on February 8, 2014.

During the February attack she pulled the woman by her pants, punched her on the jaw, and slapped her twice before laughing and telling a colleague not to report it.

She assaulted another disabled dementia sufferer in October 2013, when the paralysed pensioner was aged 88, slapping her on the face, leaving her in tears and with a red cheek.

On Valentine's Day 2014, carers Angela Biggart, 50, and Ramatoulie Gai, 24, travelled to work together and began discussing their experiences in Wellmeadow.

During their chat they both realised they had witnessed Anupam attacking pensioners and alerted their bosses, leading to the police investigation and Anupam being charged.

Biggart and Gai, who left their jobs after reporting the attacks, went to court to give evidence against her.

Defence witness Gordon McPartland, who was also a carer a Wellmeadow, said there was an impression among her colleagues that Anupam was "work shy" and would try and get fellow carers to do tasks that she had been told to do.

The 58-year-old, who said he had not seen Anupam assaulting any residents, added: "It's quite common among care workers - a lot of care workers will pass the buck on to someone else."

But the eyewitness accounts of Biggart and Gai resulted in Anupam, of Glasgow's Pollokshaws area, being convicted last month.

The case was adjourned so Anupam could be assessed by social workers ahead of sentencing. She returned to the dock on Friday to be sentenced.

Sheriff David Pender, however, was unable to sentence Anupam, who is originally from Bangladesh and faces being deported as part of her sentence, as the social work report had not been prepared. He deferred sentence until next month for the report to be compiled and released Anupam on bail.

A recent Care Inspectorate investigation into Wellmeadow, which is run by Care UK, said the quality of staffing was “good” and care and support was “adequate” but the quality of management and leadership were weak.

A spokesman for Care UK said: "We have a zero-tolerance policy towards care that doesn’t meet the high standards residents living in our homes deserve."