Laura Davidson also claimed that when she worked as a care assistant at Claremont Nursing Home in Ayr she was assaulted by senior carer Janice Glover, 47. She claims Glover grabbed and twisted one of her breasts.

At Ayr Sheriff Court yesterday Glover, of Hurlford, Ayrshire, denied a total of eight charges relating to the abuse of pensioners and her colleagues at the Bupa-run home between July 2009 and February 2010.

Ms Davidson, 44, said on one occasion around Christmas 2010, 81-year-old William Thomson was asleep in a chair outside the Carrick Unit at the nursing home when she witnessed Glover sticking a pen in his ear.

On February 19, 2011, Glover is also alleged to have inserted a syringe into the mouth of 83-year-old Elizabeth Scott and injected water.

Ms Davidson said she also saw Glover continually bang on the window of one elderly woman's room, stopping her sleeping. The trial will resume on September 5.