In court, health worker accused of 9 sex attacks
A HEALTHCARE worker appeared in court yesterday accused of carrying out a series of sex attacks on women at a hospital.
Hernando Puno, 51, is alleged to have sexually assaulted seven women while he was working at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
In total, he faces nine charges relating to incidents alleged to have occurred between November 2012 and March last year. He was arrested following a long-running police investigation into allegations of mistreatment and neglect on the hospital’s stroke unit, although detectives say the investigations are not linked.
They are continuing to carry out a separate murder investigation into the death of 75-year-old Valerie Kneale. The mistreatment probe was later widened to examine a further eight deaths.
Puno, who lives in the Lancashire town, denied the assaults during a five-minute hearing at Blackpool magistrates’ court.
He nodded vigorously from the glass-panelled dock when asked by the court clerk whether he denied the charges.
The chairman of the magistrates’ bench, Robert Osinski-Gray, sent the case for trial at Preston Crown Court and Puno was released on conditional bail.
No ages were given for his alleged victims, beyond saying that each of them was 16 or over at the time of the alleged assault.
Puno arrived at the court with his wife, Connie, wearing a face mask covering his nose and mouth.
The bail conditions include a stipulation that he remains in the country and that he does not approach any witnesses in the case.
They also require that he continues to sleep each night at his home address.
Puno is also banned from seeking employment in any healthcare setting, and from entering any local care practice unless it is for treatment
‘Huge distress for colleagues’
for either himself or his wife. He is also suspended from his job at the hospital.
After Puno was charged last month, Trish ArmstrongChild, the chief executive of the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, sent a message to all staff regarding what she described as the ‘distressing’ development.
‘Whilst it is a source of huge distress for colleagues, we remain committed to finding the truth and I continue to urge anyone with any information to come forward and tell the police what they know,’ she told them.
She stressed that the trust had ‘fully co-operated with police’ throughout their investigations and would continue to do so.