Avola Humphreys denies all charges against her

Avola Humphreys, 61, from Dolgellau, told the jury she thought the world of residents at the Bodawen nursing home.

She denies the manslaughter of a 94-year-old resident and six charges of assault at the home near Porthmadog.

She said she did not think she ever fed William Pettener, who she is accused of force-feeding until he choked.

Earlier, the trial heard a care assistant claim she saw Ms Humphreys forcing food into the mouth of retired engineer Mr Pettener.

As the defence began on Wednesday, Ms Humphreys told the court she had not "put a spoon near his mouth, especially on this day".

"I didn't see the lunch that day never mind give it to Mr Pettener," she said.

Cross-examined by Peter Hughes QC, Ms Humphreys disputed his suggestion that she had "sanitised" the nursing record about the death of Mr Pettener "to cover up what had actually happened."

She also denied that she later told two colleagues, one of them a full-time nurse at a Bangor hospital, that Mr Pettener had choked and died.

She suggested they could have "manufactured" their accounts.

But Ms Humphreys admitted deceiving the previous owner of the home about her nursing qualifications.

She told the jury of her career history, which included training as a registered mental nurse in Chester and her failure to complete a general nursing course.

Ms Humphreys told the jury that when she started work at the Bodawen home in 2001, the then owner thought she was a qualified general nurse - but she did not tell her otherwise.

She also admitted lying about her qualifications and age on an application form for a home care agency.

Ms Humphreys broke down in tears, when asked about her attitude to residents in her care.

She replied; "I thought the world of them".

'Tied to chairs'

Former colleagues of Ms Humphreys have given evidence earlier in the trial.

A care worker claimed that she had seen Ms Humphreys pull a man with Alzheimer's Disease by his hair.

Other former staff members told the hearing how they thought she had tied other residents to their chairs and cut a woman's lip when she forced a spoonful of food into her mouth.

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