A live-in carer accused of assaulting a frail 90-year-old dementia sufferer has denied “losing her rag” and hitting, kicking and pulling her over.

Giving evidence on the third day of her trial at Ipswich Crown Court, Dorothy Kerridge denied ignoring alarm sensors fitted to Muriel Munro’s bed and chair at her home in Caithness Close, Ipswich, which went off if she got up, because she was “fed up” with her.

She accepted she got “very tired” because Mrs Munro, who has since died, frequently had disturbed nights but she denied a suggestion from prosecution counsel Lori Tucker that if “Mrs Munro had a rough night, you had a rough night and she is injured”.

Kerridge claimed that Mrs Munro had between 10 and 15 falls between November 2012 and February 2013 while she was her live-in carer but said she had not always entered them in Mrs Munro’s records, which she should have done.

She denied that bruises found inside Mrs Munro’s ears were caused by her boxing her ears and that bruises on her feet were caused by her hitting her with a walking stick. Kerridge said Mrs Munro had frequently fallen over after getting out of her bed and chair before she could get to her. “She moved so quickly when she got up,” said Kerridge.

She denied a suggestion from Miss Tucker that she had ignored the alarm sensors when Mrs Munro got up because she was “fed up” with her.

She also denied “losing her rag” with Mrs Munro and pulling her out of her chair causing her to fall over.

She also denied that Mrs Munro had called her a “cruel lady” because of the way she had treated her.

Kerridge, 56, of West View, Kelsale, has denied three offences of assaulting Mrs Munro causing her actual bodily harm and two alternative charges of ill-treating and neglecting her between November 2012 and February 2013.

It has been alleged that while Kerridge was looking after Mrs Munro she was found to have bruises on her face, arms, ears and the soles of her feet.

Miss Tucker said Mrs Munro had described Kerridge as a “cruel lady” and told her son and granddaughters she had allegedly been punched, hit and slapped by her. The trial continues.