‘disgraceful’ | 

Pervert pensioner who ‘grinned’ after he sexually assaulted nurse is jailed

The nurse gave evidence that shortly before she was assaulted she had been changing Hepburn’s IV line

Paul Higgins

Yesterday at 14:37

A “sneering” pervert pensioner who “grinned” after he sexually assaulted a nurse by grabbing her by the buttock was jailed for four months today.

Dismissing an appeal by convicted rapist Victor Hepburn at Antrim County Appeal Court, Judge Alistair Devlin said had the 76-year-old shown a different attitude to the victim and his offences before his 11th hour admission of guilt today or if he had a clear record “I might have been persuaded” not to jail the creep.

Highlighting that until today Hepburn had “shown no remorse whatsoever” and had even continued in his “disgraceful” victim blaming when interviewed by a probation officer, he told the court “I am not persuaded there was anything inappropriate in the decision arrived at by the District Judge.”

“I fully appreciate hat he did and why he did it and the basis upon which he arrived at his decision,” concluded Judge Devlin as he ordered Hepburn to be taken to the cells.

Following a two hour contest last May Hepburn, from the Cloyfin Road in Coleraine, was convicted of a single count of sexual assault of a female on 4 December last year.

Filled with drama from start to finish with Hepburn’s defence counsel having to come off record because the defendant tried to surreptitiously record a legal consultation, the court heard that Hepburn was a patient at the Causeway Hospital being treated for an aneurysm and amputated toe when the assault took place.

The nurse gave evidence that shortly before she was assaulted she had been changing Hepburn’s IV line when he gave an indication of his lecherous character.

“He made a comment of ‘is that line kinked, do you like it kinky’,” said the experienced nurse, “I immediately told him that is an inappropriate comment to make and why did he feel he could make a comment to that extent?”

Later on she said she was standing at Hepburn’s bedside locker sorting out his medication when “I suddenly felt his hand on the top of my right thigh, on my crotch, and it lingered there.”

“I told him to get off,” declared the nurse, explaining to the prosecuting lawyer that Hepburn “had to physically roll right over…reach up and through the cot bars” to grab her.

Giving evidence on his own behalf, claiming he did not know the meaning of the word kinky and declaring that he was telling the truth as he held the Bible aloft in both hands, Hepburn claimed he had been reaching for the handrail to manoeuvre himself in bed when “she started screaming ‘don’t touch me, don’t touch me! and the next thing I know there’s two senior members of staff saying about zero tolerance and so on.”

“I totally and absolutely disagree” with the nurse’s claims, Hepburn told the court describing her account as “a bit exaggerated.”

Convicting Hepburn and jailing the rapist for four months, District Judge Peter King told the rapist his testimony had been an example of “victim blaming and victim shaming,” adding that “I do not believe a word that Mr Hepburn has told me – his account was unsteady on a series of stilts.”

Hepburn, who was jailed for 11 years in 2014 for an historic rape attack, was due to appeal but his conviction and sentence today with the nurse he groped set to have to testify again but his defence counsel said while “it’s late in the day,” the pensioner now accepts his conviction.

“We say that’s a very significant change in attitude,” the barrister submitted, highlighting that the pensioner has significant and multiple health difficulties so any jail time will be all the more difficult for him.

“One thing that should be said was that his conduct was completely unacceptable,” he told the court, urging the judge not to send Hepburn straight to jail.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Devlin explained he was approaching the case on the basis of the level of culpability, the harm caused and the risk posed by the sex offender.

The judge said he had “absolutely no hesitation in concluding” that culpability was high given the fact that the victim is a nurse who was providing a professional level of care to the pensioner in a hospital setting.

As regards the harm, Judge Devlin said while he was not going to fully open the victim impact statement he told the court she had written how seeing Hepburn’s “sneering” and “grinning” face, along with having to testify and be cross examined by the convicted rapist, was “one of the most emotional and distressing day in may life” and she had come close to giving up her 30 plus year nursing career as a result.

Hepburn himself, said the judge, had been assessed as posing a medium risk of harm and further offences and he told the pensioner his attitude to the offence and the victim up until today had been “quite disgraceful.”

Although he commended the defence for the plea which had “left no stone unturned,” Judge Devlin dismissed the appeal and affirmed the four month jail sentence which had been imposed by the lower court.

He also affirmed the Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) and Protection from Harassment Order for five years and ordered that Hepburn will have to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.