Linto Thomas has had his nursing registration cancelled after he twice indecently assaulted a pregnant patient.

A nurse who came to New Zealand with the dream of becoming a permanent resident is back in India, with his registration cancelled, after indecently assaulting a patient twice.

The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal found it had no option but to censure Linto Thomas and cancel his registration.

While he can apply for re-registration, the tribunal said in its recently released ruling the Nursing Council would be well aware of his indiscretions.​

The tribunal decision comes more than a year after he was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court to 10 months' home detention after being found guilty at a judge-alone trial of two counts of indecent assault.

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MURRAY WILSON/STUFF Thomas worked at Palmerston North Hospital.

The offending occurred against a same female patient at Palmerston North Hospital in 2016.

Thomas took the pregnant woman back to her bed after she was in the bathroom. He cut off an arm band she said was too tight, before rubbing her arm with both hands and asking if she was sore.

He rubbed her belly before indecently assaulting her.

Thomas went back to see the patient later the same evening after she pushed the help buzzer. He gave her pain medication before stroking her arm and touching her breast.

Thomas maintained he was innocent throughout his trial and at sentencing.

He did not attend his tribunal hearing, and it was understood by the tribunal that he and his wife, also a nurse, had returned to India.

While Thomas had no previous convictions in either country before the indecent assaults, the tribunal found he was not fit to practise as a nurse.

"Mr Thomas ... must treat his patient with all the respect that a person deserves and must adhere to the core professional obligations to avoid any unlawful or inappropriate sexual conduct."

Failing to give that respect undermined the trust and confidence people have in all health practitioners, the tribunal said.

That the patient was in her first trimester of pregnancy and in a lot of pain, and there were two assaults, made the situation especially bad.

While the sentencing judge's comment that Linton would "never practise as a nurse in this country again" was not binding on the tribunal, it did find it important enough to note in its decision.

Thomas must also pay $4848 in tribunal costs.