Hospital assistant cleared of ward sexual assault

Jobin Jose had been working at Broomfield Hospital for a year prior to the alleged incident

A healthcare assistant has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a patient while helping her after she had used a bed pan to urinate.

Jobin Jose, 41, denied he had used his fingers to penetrate the woman at Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, Essex, on 11 May 2022.

"She asked me to wipe her and I did my responsibility as [an assistant]," he told a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Mr Jose, of Marconi Plaza in the city, was cleared of an offence of assault by penetration by a jury earlier after a trial that lasted four days.

The complainant had alleged Mr Jose launched a "vigorous" sexual attack on her after she had awoken from a foot operation on the hospital's Notley Ward.

The jury heard the woman had not felt confident enough to walk to the toilet due to her condition and instead asked for the use of a bed pan, and assistance from Mr Jose.

Mr Jose had been moved to the hospital's Notley Ward because of staff shortages that day

After the complainant had urinated, Mr Jose said she then asked him to wipe her.

"She asked me to wipe her, so I went to the toilet and took two tissues and wiped her," Mr Jose said in court.

He said he had searched for a colleague to assist him, but due to "staff shortages" there was nobody available.

There were no female nurses or a chaperone available to assist the patient when she was urinating, prosecutor Ravi Dogra told the court.

Both Mr Jose and the prosecution had agreed in court that it was clear the victim "did not like" the defendant.

During the trial Mr Jose was asked if he wiped the patient's vagina without consent or penetrated her with his fingers, to which he replied: "No, it's a lie."

He added: "When the patient requests something to me as an [assistant], it's my responsibility to help, and I did that.

"If the patient is asking me to bring a female staff to help her I would definitely do that."

The jury found Mr Jose not guilty of one count of assault by penetration.