THE FAMILY of a woman who was abused in a Ballingry care home have spoken out after her abuser's recent court appearance left them feeling as though he was "dictating" his own punishment. 

Liam Stark, of Lochgelly, was sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid work at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court in February after the 22-year-old videoed, mocked and abused an 88-year-old dementia patient at Benore Care Centre.

He was employed as a senior carer but no longer works there.  

Now, five months after admitting to charges of assault and breach of the peace, he was back in court last week where he admitted having only completed 51 hours.

The victim's son told the Times: "I never knew anything about it until a friend of mine said you better go get yourself a read of the paper. It knocked the wind from me when I saw he wasn’t even doing his punishment."

While the family was unaware of his recent court appearance, they have heard that his unpaid work order has been revoked due to issues with his mental health.

He continued: "I’m reading that it’s down to his mental health but what about our mental health? There’s nothing wrong with his mental health when you see on Facebook he's having parties.

"He seems to be dictating when and if he’s doing his punishment. He should have been jailed in the first place and then we wouldn't have had any of this carry on.  

"It’s just unbelievable that he can decide when he gets his punishment; 'These couple of weeks don’t suit me but I'll revisit it in three months and see what like I am then.'

"That’s just shocking, where’s the justice in that? There’s no justice."

The family was left disappointed in February when the sentence was given but after finding out that Stark's work order would be revoked and revisited again in three months time, it felt like another blow. 

"The punishment was a joke in the beginning but it seems to be getting worse and worse," the man said.

"Five months, and he’s only done about 16 per cent of his sentence. 

"We thought that the court case was finished, we weren’t happy with the sentence but you’ve got to get on with it and then you see this back in the newspapers again, that he’s not doing his punishment, and it’s hard to accept.  

"Now it’s going into the winter months and he’s going to be where he was with the 50 hours. Who knows, it might be held over again.

"There’s no punishment there for him, we feel like he is dictating when and if he is punished. It’s unbelievable, we thought that if he didn’t attend, he would be jailed. We know that the judge's hands are tied but it’s just unbelievable for the victim, me and my family.  

"It’s not to run around how you feel and how your lifestyle works, it’s a punishment - well it’s supposed to be a punishment.  

"Our mental health has always been affected by, could we have done more to protect her? Then we keep living through this again, he keeps coming back with more stuff in the newspapers. You think you’ve made progress and then you’re knocked back to square one."