Mental health patient wants nurse charged
A severely disabled mental health patient says she was manipulated into having a sexual relationship with a senior nurse who exploited her vulnerability.
The woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, alleges that during the two years she was with the man he kept her “heavily drugged up”, and performed non-consensual, indecent acts on her.
Their relationship has been at the centre of a police investigation since July 2022, when the woman told a social worker, and showed them lewd messages he’d sent her.
The woman contacted Stuff earlier this month because she was frustrated about how long the investigation was taking. She feared the man would escape prosecution.
“I just see him as a predator who needs to be brought to justice.”
Police have for the first time publicly acknowledged the matter is subject to a criminal investigation.
“The nature of the investigation is sensitive, and we are mindful that once it has concluded, police have an obligation to communicate the outcome directly with those affected in the first instance,” a spokesperson said earlier this month. Police were unable to comment further while the investigation was ongoing, they said.
The nurse resigned soon after his relationship with the woman was exposed, and his practising certificate was suspended.
Stuff previously revealed the man was linked to the 2010 suicide of Tineke Foley, 33, an inpatient at the Princess Margaret Hospital’s Seager Clinic who accused him of abusing her – allegations detectives did not substantiate in a botched investigation. He can’t be identified due to a suppression order related to Foley’s death.
There are fears the man preyed on other vulnerable women during his more than a decade working in various mental health units in Christchurch.
He hung up when contacted by Stuff on Wednesday, and has previously declined to comment.
The woman said she was an inpatient at a mental health facility when she first met the nurse. He seemed “very professional” and “very caring about his patients”, she said.
But within weeks, the man, had touched her inappropriately while helping her shower. He also regularly brought her food, knowing she had an eating disorder.
As their relationship progressed, the woman said, he invited her to his house, where they had sex. In the months that followed, the pair continued to see each other in secret. They met for sex often, including in his car and at his partner’s home, and he would send her indecent images of himself.
Sometimes, he would give her pills, and wouldn’t say what they were, the woman alleged.
“We were in constant text communication ... and every day he would text me to remind me to delete my messages, and I wasn’t deleting them.
“There were instances of non-consensual acts, and he also used my mental health against me.”
Her disabilities limited her movement, she said, making it difficult to stop his advances or “fight back”.
“Towards the end of it he was complaining that I was too expensive because he was spending so much money on food.”
The woman said that eventually, while talking with a social worker about her eating disorder, she mentioned her relationship with the man. “It got escalated up the chain and the last time I actually saw [him] he was bawling his eyes out to his manager.”
After their relationship was exposed, the man asked her not to complain, and text her claiming he was suicidal, she said.
The woman said that while Te Whatu Ora lodged a complaint with the police about the nurse’s behaviour, “I am a very willing participant in the complaint”.
She’d been video-interviewed by a detective, and her cellphone and computer were sent away for forensic examination.
“He preyed on a very vulnerable person, knowing I was vulnerable,” she said.
This week a Nursing Council spokesperson confirmed the nurse’s practising certificate remained suspended. “It has not been terminated as that is not an option under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003,” the spokesperson said.
“A nurse’s registration can be cancelled but that can only be ordered by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.”