nurse jailed for having sex with patient

An Indian-origin male nurse has been jailed for having sex with a patient at a Melbourne youth mental health centre, a media report said on Thursday.

Kennedy Swamy, who migrated to Australia from India in 2006, was working as a nurse last year when he met an 18-year-old woman who had been admitted with bipolar disorder, reported the Australian news agency AAP.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe.

Swamy, who was then 28, asked the teenager if she liked him and suggested they go to the bathroom where they had sex. This happened March 7.

Two days later they again had sex in the bathroom.

The teenager disclosed the sexual activity when she was taking part in a therapy session. The victim first thought it was okay but then realised it was not, said Judge Wendy Wilmoth.

Wilmoth said that due to her illness the victim's decision-making ability would have been severely effected and Swamy should have been aware from his training that sexual indiscretions were a breach of his duties.

"You breached the trust placed in you as a carer of a vulnerable person who was in a fragile state," Judge Wilmoth was quoted as saying while sentencing Swamy in the Victorian County Court Thursday.

She said Swamy had lost his career and now found that his future in Australia was uncertain, because his student visa had expired. But she said his mental state was also fragile when the incidents took place as his wife had not long returned to India with their two-month-old child.

Swamy pleaded guilty. He must serve a minimum of 15 months' jail before being eligible for parole.

Indo-Asian News Service
Melbourne, April 08, 2010