By Andrew Phelan - Irish Independent - 26/09/2024 - [IRELAND] - [Liju John] A male nurse at a care home falsely imprisoned and sexually assaulted a co-worker by “cornering her”, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her against her will.
Liju John (37) kissed the young nurse’s neck and tried to get her to remove her face mask while they were in a room with a non-verbal elderly patient at the height of the Covid pandemic.
The victim wept in court as she said her life had been “destroyed” and told John: “No man should ever touch a woman without consent, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
John, who had denied the charges at Dublin District Court, was found guilty and given a six-month suspended sentence. Judge John Hughes said it was a “breach of trust” by the accused.
The married father of two from Woodside, Riverforest, Leixlip, Co Kildare, had pleaded not guilty to false imprisonment and sexual assault at a nursing home in the east of the country in 2021.
The court heard that in the lead-up to the assault, John asked the victim “why do you not look me in the eye?”, and she felt uncomfortable. When they brought the resident to her room, he locked the door, which the victim thought was strange. He said he was sorry for making her feel uncomfortable and went to give her a hug, but put his hands around her waist.
She said “please let me go”, but he tried to kiss her and she felt his lips on the left side of her neck.
“He was asking me to take my mask down so he could kiss me on the lips,” she said. “I was telling him to stop and he wouldn’t.”
She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. “I had to push him off me, he was refusing to let go of me,” she said.
The accused had then warned her: “Be careful who you tell stories to because your words can get twisted.”
The victim finished her work in the room, then opened the door, ran to the toilets and locked herself in. John followed her and she could hear him banging on the door when she phoned her mother, who contacted staff at the facility.
In cross-examination, defence barrister Simon Crowley put it to the victim his client rejected her account. He said she had thrown a dirty pillow at John, he shouted at her and she got upset.
He said there was no way the accused could have kissed the victim if he was wearing a mask and the victim had not mentioned John pulling down his mask before.
“If he was able to kiss me, he wouldn’t be able to do it with a mask on,” she said. “He must have had it down already.” John did not give evidence, but the court heard that in a garda interview, he contradicted much of what the victim said and maintained she was “making up stories”.
In victim-impact evidence, the woman said the assault “destroyed my mental health completely” and had affected her career and her relationship .
“I hope you realise the damage you’ve done. To lay a hand on a woman without consent is just horrendous, it’s horrible,” she said.
John, from India and resident in Ireland on a visa, had since been dismissed from his job and the convictions would be a “big stumbling block” for his future employment prospects, Mr Crowley said.
Judge Hughes said it was not simply a case of “a co-worker trying to steal a kiss”. John was in a position of trust and respect and the victim found herself in “a weird situation with a male who was acting odd” before he “suddenly wrapped his arms around her”. The victim was a “diligent and caring” worker who was “entirely blameless and just doing her job”, and she was “shattered” by what happened, he said.
Suspending the six months for two years, the judge said John must undergo a course to educate him on the concept of consent.
He is to stay away from the victim and pay her €5,000 in compensation, or donate it to charity if she does not accept it. He was also fined €1,000. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and were abused in state run medical and health facilities, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm.
Dignity4Patients Commentary:- There should be no room for sexual predators in healthcare. While this case relates to a young colleague, should we allow these predators around young patients? Vulnerable patients need protection, is Consent Training enough to prevent future abuse. #StopSexualAbuse #ZeroTolerance