The home care aide who admitted to abusing an 80-year-old man with dementia was remanded to the Orange County Jail Tuesday following his sentencing in County Court.

Judge Craig Stephen Brown sentenced Christopher Diccianni, 56, to 60 days in jail relating to his guilty plea to endangering the welfare of an incompetent or disabled person.

An in-home camera system captured several violent incidents over the course of one evening in which Diccianni pushed, hit and yelled at Doug Powers, a Vietnam veteran and retired corrections officer who has dementia.

"If there were no cameras in that house, we never would have known," said Powers' daughter Tammy Jollie.

Judge Brown surprised Powers's family when he imposed a jail sentence, not simply five years of probation for which the defense had been hoping.

He pointed out that in his pre-sentencing interview that Diccianni described the abuse as "little incidents" and said he was "a little overly aggressive" in how he handled Powers.

"The conduct was overly egregious, from this court's perspective," Judge Brown said.

"When he gave him 60 days, I said, 'Thank you. This is justice,'" Jollie said. "He needed to see the inside of a jail cell and think about what he did. Yeah, he said he was sorry, but just like the judge said, he was sorry because he knew he was facing the consequences finally."

Judge Brown also imposed a protective order that Diccianni not communicate with Powers or his family in any way, not even through a third party.

Diccianni apologized in open court, said he has "been hating myself," and said he regrets not asking for help when caring for Powers became difficult.

Jollie and her husband live next door.

"There was help available and I didn't reach out for it," Diccianni said. "It is my fault. I am ashamed."

Powers' children said he has been doing well.

Since his dementia is progressing, they hope he does not remember the abuse, though they think he might remember it and is just unable to express himself.