‘Sex addict’ nurse guilty of assaulting colleague on drive home from work
Healthcare worker tells of ordeal as judge finds denials ‘not credible’
A NURSE has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a co-worker in his car after “persistently” offering the woman a lift and boasting about threesomes.
Leonard Iliuta, 36, of Seaview Mews, Seatown West, Swords, North Dublin, told the victim he was “a sex addict” before touching her on her thigh several times, Dublin District Court was told yesterday.
He pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the healthcare worker during the incident, which happened within the past five years.
However, he was convicted following a non-jury hearing before Judge John Hughes, who found that his denials were “not credible”.
The woman told the court she had been working the same shifts as Iliuta, and she normally left before him to avoid his “quite persistent” offers of a lift home in his car.
On the day of the incident, she “reluctantly” accepted. Initially, they chatted about him having a left-handdrive car, she said.
The woman said during the journey that the “conversation shifted to a kind of sexual nature”, and he brought up the subject of addiction.
The woman testified “he stated that he was a sex addict and there was nothing he had not done”, including cheating on his girlfriend, threesomes and that he had previously been with a man.
She alleged the accused mentioned that she shared a flat with another woman. The witness said he asked her if they ever had sex before and if she had sex with a named male.
She said she was uncomfortable, and Iliuta “put his hand on my left knee, lingered for a few seconds and then put it back on the gear stick”.
She recalled that the car reached traffic lights, and she asked to get out so she could walk.
However, he pulled her legs back to him when she tried to move away. The court heard he put his hand on her left knee and once more moved it close to her crotch.
When they reached her home, he started talking about going for a drink or if there was anyone in her home. She
VICTIM recalled telling him someone was always there and that he “insinuated his house was free, and we could go to his house; I made no comment”.
The complainant said as she got out of his car, he asked if she was leaving, but she ignored him, and he motioned her to stay. The woman remembered being “fairly shaken up” when she entered her home and immediately told her flatmate what happened.
She then notified gardai and her employer. State solicitor Niamh Mckernan asked how it had made her feel; she replied that she had been reluctant to take the lift.
She described Iliuta as being over-friendly at work, but she felt pressured to accept and “I could not get over how uncomfortable I felt”.
The court heard she no longer works with Iliuta, who had no prior criminal convictions. During crossexamination she was questioned about her evidence that he had offered to drive her home 18 times over three weeks. Defence counsel Garrett Casey said work records showed they had the same shifts on five dates, which she accepted.
She rejected suggestions that Iliuta’s relationship with her was entirely professional but accepted she had sent a congratulations message on the birth of his child.
Her flatmate gave evidence that the woman was upset and crying when she arrived and told her what happened.
Iliuta denied the allegations and denied talking about sex. He claimed they just spoke about him having a foreign car and that she told him she was stressed, and that she and others at work were taking drugs.
Asked if he notified his employer about learning of drug abuse among other workers, he said no and claimed he did not want to judge and that it was “none of my business”.
Quizzed by the State solicitor he admitted he sent the woman a message via Facebook saying he missed her, but claimed that was taken out of context and was a work-related remark.
Iliuta was remanded on bail pending preparation of a victim impact statement to be presented at the sentence hearing later this month.
Put his hand on my left knee, lingered
IN EVIDENCE TO THE COURT