26th May 2012
A BUNDABERG nursing home worker accused of raping vulnerable elderly patients has been refused bail.
The 60-year-old male nurse is accused of raping and sexually assaulting a 65-year-old woman and an 89-year-old woman, both of whom are high-care patients and confined to their beds.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Hayley Glover told Bundaberg Magistrates Court she strongly opposed the man's application for bail yesterday, saying he may reoffend if released.
Snr Const Glover said other workers at the home had become suspicious when they noticed curtains had been drawn on various rooms of the nursing home on several occasions.
She said on April 27 this year, a nurse walked into a 65-year-old patient's room to find the accused man with his arm under a sheet near the woman's genitals.
It is alleged further investigations and interviews with the woman revealed the man had digitally raped her, felt her breasts and rubbed his genitals on her.
"This occurred over a period of weeks when he would take her to the toilet," Snr Const Glover said.
"He said he loved her during the rapes and sexual assaults."
Police say the man also digitally raped an 89-year-old woman while he was washing her.
Snr Const Glover said there were concerns some patients in the facility had no cognitive or communication abilities and that the defendant at times had been found on wards where he was not working.
"The defendant has been working in a position of trust," the prosecutor said.
"It is of a serious concern that the defendant has been working in this position for some time."
Lawyer Chris Schrader, who appeared for the married man, said was an upstanding member of the community.
He said sexual assault allegations made against the man in January had been dropped by the home prior to the latest charges arising.
Magistrate Jennifer Batts denied bail, saying the man was an unacceptable risk of reoffending. She adjourned the matter to July 2.
SOURCE: TheFraserCoastChronicle
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