An elderly woman found in a courtyard at an aged care facility shortly before her death told a staff member she had been outside all night, an inquest has heard.
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But another staff member gave conflicting evidence in the ACT Coroners Court on Tuesday, saying he saw the woman in bed about 5am on the morning in question.
A coronial inquest is this week examining the death of Ruth Alison McKay, 90.
Mrs McKay died in Canberra Hospital in January 2015, six days after she disappeared from her room at the Goodwin Ainslie aged care facility for an unknown period of time.
She was found lying in dried blood, with a cut on her head, underneath an ornamental car in a secure courtyard at the care home.
A post-mortem examination found Mrs McKay's medical cause of death to be a form of pneumonia.
On Tuesday, the inquest heard evidence from Piyush Shah, a carer at the aged care facility who worked the overnight shift ending on January 17, 2015 - the morning Mrs McKay was later found in the courtyard.
Under cross-examination, Mr Shah repeatedly said he believed he had seen Mrs McKay sleeping in her bed about 5am that morning.
But Marco Arquero, a nurse who was a team leader in the aged care facility's dementia wing during the day shift that morning, told the inquest it appeared Mrs McKay's bed had not been slept in.
Mr Arquero said he arrived at Mrs McKay's room about 7.40am that day to find the door locked, which was unusual for that time of the morning.
"There was no one in the room," Mr Arquero said.
"It looked to me that no one had slept there."
Mr Arquero said Mrs McKay's bed was "perfectly made" in the way staff were trained to do it.
He said he was alerted to the fact Mrs McKay was outside a short time later, when a carer screamed and pointed to the courtyard, saying she could see a pair of legs underneath the ornamental car.
Mr Arquero said he and the carer went outside together, and had to go through a locked door to enter the courtyard.
He said when he reached Mrs McKay, she was shaking, and told him she had been there all night and felt cold.
Mr Arquero said a short time after the incident, he made notes and printed out some copies.
He told the inquest that when he attempted to hand one to a police officer at the aged care home, the facility's then-executive manager of residential care, Robyn Boyd, took the piece of paper.
Mr Arquero also said Jeffrey Shelley, who was the facility manager at the time, told him that if he spoke to the police, he would be breaching his contract and may lose his job.
He went to police the next day to make a statement after feeling he was "being bullied" by his then-employer.
But the aged care facility's barrister, Deborah Foy, said Mr Arquero had misunderstood what Mr Shelley said.
She said Mr Shelley had not threatened Mr Arquero's job, and had merely reminded him that he had confidentiality obligations to the aged care facility's residents.
Ms Foy also said Ms Boyd had asked for the piece of paper Mr Arquero gave to police "for a reason", which Ms Boyd would explain when she gave evidence.
Ms Foy challenged several aspects of Mr Arquero's version of events, pointing out that other aged care facility staff members present on the morning in question had differing accounts.
She suggested to Mr Arquero that it had actually been carers, rather than him, who initially went outside and found Mrs McKay in the courtyard.
She also put it to him that he had used another staff member's swipe card to pass through doors that morning, given his own credentials had only been recorded in logs twice - both before his scheduled start time.
Mr Arquero denied these allegations and insisted his evidence was true.
The inquest, before Coroner Louise Taylor, continues.
