A former American nurse was sentenced to ten years in prison for sexually assaulting a severely disabled patient in his care who gave birth to a baby as a result of the rape, local media reported on Friday (December 3rd).
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Nathan Sutherland initially refused to admit the facts, but ended up pleading guilty to abuse and sexual assault on the patient.
He was sentenced Thursday by a court in Phoenix, Arizona (southwest) to ten years in prison, the maximum sentence for this category of crimes.
He will also have to undergo a lifelong follow-up and will be registered in the sex offender register.
DNA: keystone of the case
A registered nurse, Nathan Sutherland was arrested in January 2019 by Phoenix police as part of an investigation after the delivery of a woman aged at the time of 29 years. The victim had given birth to a baby boy in a health center in the city, Hacienda HealthCare, when, according to the family of the young woman, she suffers from "
a significant mental handicap due to seizures that occurred early in her childhood.
".
She "
cannot speak but has a small capacity to move her limbs, her head and her neck
", "
responds to noises and is able to show facial expressions
," the family said.
The victim had been in the care of Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix since the age of three.
Nathan Sutherland's DNA matches that of the child, which allowed investigators to confuse him.
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The staff of the health center where Nathan Sutherland had been employed since 2012 had said they did not know that the young woman was pregnant until the time when the childbirth started.