Broomfield Hospital assistant acquitted of charge of sexual assault on ward

A medical assistant has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a patient while helping her after she used a bedpan to urinate.

Jobin Jose, 41, denied penetrating the woman with his fingers at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, on May 11, 2022.

“She asked me to wipe them and I did my responsibility.” [an assistant]” he told a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Mr Jose, of Marconi Plaza in the city, was previously acquitted by a jury of charges of assault by penetration after a four-day trial.

The complainant had accused Mr. Jose launched a “violent” sexual attack on her after she woke up in the hospital’s Notley ward following foot surgery.

The jury concluded that the woman had not felt confident enough to go to the toilet due to her condition and instead requested the use of a bedpan and assistance from Mr Jose.

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

“She asked me to wipe her, so I went to the toilet, took two tissues and wiped her,” Mr Jose told the court.

He said he had been looking for a colleague to assist him, but no one was available due to a “shortage of staff.”

Prosecutor Ravi Dogra told the court that there were no nurses or a companion available to help the patient urinate.

Both Mr Jose and the prosecution agreed in court that it was clear the victim “didn’t like” the defendant.

During the trial, Mr. Jose was asked if he wiped the patient’s vagina or penetrated her with his fingers without consent, to which he replied, “No, that’s a lie.”

He added: “When the patient asks me for something [assistant]It is my responsibility to help and I have done that.

“If the patient asks me to bring a female staff member to help her, I would definitely do that.”

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