A nursing assistant who raped an 83-year-old resident of a nursing home was found guilty of sexual acts against a person incapable of judgment by the Geneva criminal court on Wednesday. The judges sentenced the 39-year-old to three years’ imprisonment, including 12 months unconditionally.
For the conditional prison sentence of two years, the court set a probation period of four years. Taking into account the days already spent in custody, the man has to serve another five months in prison.
With this sentence, the judges went further than the public prosecutor’s office, which had demanded a three-year prison sentence, six months of which was unconditional. However, the defendant was acquitted due to a lack of evidence for another assault on a 93-year-old resident.
Victim still deeply traumatized
As requested by the public prosecutor, the court also imposed a life-long ban on the man from working with vulnerable adults and in the health sector. The man is also no longer allowed to come into contact with the woman he raped.
The victim is still deeply traumatized from the attack they suffered in their bedroom on June 16, 2020. The man also has to pay this woman 15,000 francs in satisfaction, which he has already started.
The wrongdoing of the accused weighs heavily, said the court president. As a carer, the man had the duty to protect and care for the residents. But he made a conscious decision to attack the Parkinson’s sufferer. He let himself be guided exclusively by his sexual pleasure.
Insufficient insight on the part of the accused
When the defendant began to develop bizarre fantasies of older people, he should have sought help and, above all, refrained from applying to a nursing home, the court ruled. Frustrations in his work and family life are no explanation or justification for his actions.
Due to his gerontophilic disorder of sexual preference, diagnosed by psychiatric experts, the court assumed that the defendant was slightly reduced.
The court also took into account the man’s good cooperation, apologies, and sincere repentance. The judges, however, were of the opinion that the defendant’s insight was insufficient. (SDA)