Three of the four former Kane nursing center employees charged with abusing an elderly resident there last year were ordered yesterday to stand trial on the charges.

Assistant District Attorney Julie Capone, before the start of a preliminary hearing yesterday, amended the complaint to include a misdemeanor count of harassment. This addition made it possible for District Judge Ronald Costa to order trials for the three remaining suspects for alleged incidents dating to last summer.

The three women, all former Allegheny County employees working as certified nursing assistants at the Glen Hazel residence, are Shelly Keene, 35, of West Mifflin; Karen Perry, 46, of Homestead; and Shalaya Hatten, 30, of the Hill District.

They are accused of ongoing abuse of 94-year-old Thelma Bryant, a resident of the Kane Center since June 2004.

Ms. Bryant's abuse came to light after other workers noticed at the end of October that her eye and jaw were swollen.

The three aides since have been fired, along with a fourth nursing assistant, Danielle Taylor, 46, of the North Side, whose charges were withdrawn yesterday for lack of evidence.

Ms. Bryant suffered from Alzheimer's disease and dementia, conditions under which she frequently became combative with her attendants.

Four witnesses, including the center's head nurse and three other nursing assistants, gave testimony that clearly implicated Ms. Keene in several instances when Ms. Bryant was smacked in the forehead and had her feet trampled for no apparent reason.

Witnesses said Ms. Bryant and the aides, as well as Mary Ann Bower, a practical nurse who was cited on a summary harassment charge, exchanged profane insults and name-calling.

On occasion, with Ms. Bryant placed in her wheelchair outside the nurse's station for her safety, the suspects smacked her, stomped on her feet or pelted her with oranges, witnesses said.

Three of the witnesses testified that Ms. Hatten never was seen abusing Ms. Bryant. The director of nursing, under cross examination by Ms. Hatten's defense attorney Kenneth Haber, presented a copy of a work schedule that showed Ms. Hatten was on vacation for the week that ended Oct. 31.

The injuries to Ms. Bryant occurred overnight Oct. 28 to Oct. 30.

A fourth aide testified that all three of the women had assaulted her.

"Clearly," Mr. Haber argued after the hearing, "Ms. Hatten, the evidence has shown she was not at work when [the injuries] happened. My client should not be prejudiced by testimony against the other defendants."

Judge Costa disagreed, ruling the prosecution met its burden of proof for a preliminary hearing. Ms. Capone needed to show only that the defendants may have committed the crimes.

She asked that the witnesses names not be revealed, because all four of them said they were afraid of the suspects and others.

Ms. Bryant, who uses a wheelchair, was equipped with an alarm device that would alert the Kane staff on her floor whenever she stood up from her bed or her wheelchair.

The alarm was necessary, the nurses and aids said, because Ms. Bryant's age and frail condition made her prone to falling down.

Mr. Haber challenged the witnesses, each of whom still works at the center, because none of them ever reported the abuse in the months leading up to the last assault that left Ms. Bryant with facial bruises.

Mr. Haber pointed out that a nurse aid's failure to report the incidents amounts to a summary offense. A second failure results in a misdemeanor charge.

None of the witnesses has been charged.