Avola Humphreys denies all charges against her

Care assistant Kelly Fitzgerald said Avola Humphreys, 61, from Dolgellau, put three spoonfuls of food in the mouth of William Pettener of Ormskirk.

Caernarfon Crown Court heard he choked, turned "bluish" before Ms Humphreys said "I think we're losing him".

She denies manslaughter and seven assault charges.

Miss Fitzgerald said Mr Pettener, a retired engineer originally from Lancashire, had been in pain and refused his breakfast.

When he refused his lunch, she informed Ms Humphreys, who was the then matron of Bodawen Nursing Home in Tremadog, Gwynedd.

A care assistant said she witnessed the pensioner's death

The assistant told the jury that she then saw Ms Humphreys put first one, then two and then three spoonfuls of food into Mr Pettener's mouth while he was still lying down.

Miss Fitzgerald said the elderly man did not have time to swallow and made a gurgling sound as he tried to breathe and coughed.

"After the coughs he took a big gasp - he was trying to take in air, one big lung full of air," she said.

"His face started to draw in and he was going a bluish colour around his lips.

It was then that Ms Humphreys said "I think we're losing him", before she ran to fetch an oxygen supply.

Peter Hughes, QC, prosecuting, asked Miss Fitzgerald: "Was there anything you had seen that had concerned you?"

She replied: "Yes. The feeding. The way she fed him and the speed with which she fed him, because he didn't want to eat.

"She was just putting it into his mouth so fast.

"I knew the way that she put food into his mouth, he couldn't breathe and she was going to choke him."

Ms Humphreys denies the manslaughter of Mr Pettener and assaulting residents, Eric Cartwright, 86, Mary Wilson, 96, Michael Thomas, 70 and Gwen Evans, 87, between September 2003 and May 2004.