An assisted living facility employee who allegedly abused a woman with dementia appeared on Thursday in Mower County District Court.

Afoua Berthe Adzewoda, 47, of Austin was charged with gross misdemeanor criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult, gross misdemeanor fourth-degree assault of a vulnerable adult and misdemeanor fifth-degree assault-infliction of bodily harm.

According to the court complaint, an Austin police detective received a report from the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center regarding the maltreatment of a vulnerable adult with dementia on Aug. 15.

An internal investigation by the Cedars of Austin showed the event occurred at 6 p.m. on Aug. 10 and was witnessed by another employee.

The report included images of large bruises on the victim’s arm.

A staff member said she heard someone screaming, “Help me! Help me!” and saw Adzewoda push the victim into the shower. She said Adzewoda rubbed soap into the victim’s face and sprayed it with water for two minutes. The victim screamed through the whole incident and tried to grab Adzewoda’s nametag to identify her. She said Adzewoda slapped the victim’s hand three times. She told police she told Adzewoda to stop several times, but she did not comply. She said she separated Adzewoda from the victim and went to find a supervisor.

The detective interviewed Adzewoda, who said she was washing the victim’s feet when the victim grabbed the shower head and started spraying her with it. She took the shower head away from the victim, who started to fall. Adzewoda said the bruises on the victim’s arm were the result of her having to grab her to keep her from falling. She denied slapping the victim’s hand.

The detective attempted to interview the victim, but because of the advanced state of her dementia, she did not recall the incident. The detective did notice her bruises, as well as a bruise on her shoulder that had not been documented. All of the bruises appeared to be the same age and were fading.

Adzewoda is scheduled to appear in court again on Oct. 19.