A man who sexually assaulted a patient while working as a care assistant at the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin has been jailed for 18 months.

Folajimmy Awode (31) of Ballinteer House, Tyrellstown, Dublin was found guilty of sexually assaulting a female patient in November 2013 following a three-day trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last month.

His victim had taken a muscle relaxant for her back and awoke to feel Awode rubbing on her right breast. She opened her eyes and the sensation seemed to stop. "Because of where I was, in hospital, you're just not expecting this to be the case, so I closed my eyes again," she testified during the trial.

The sensation resumed when she closed her eyes again. She turned over and saw Awode standing by her bed and moving his hand away from her body.

Judge Patricia Ryan said there was an element of planning and pre-meditation to the crime and said that he had breached a patient's trust.

"She was a patient. She had taken sleeping medication. She was either asleep or trying to go to sleep," Judge Ryan said, suspending six months of a two-year sentence. Awode was also placed on the Sex Offenders' Register.

Irish Independent