KEY POINTS:
The former ambulance officer who indecently assaulted patients while he was treating them in the back of an ambulance was yesterday jailed for 2 1/2 years.
Judge Anna Johns initially refused to extend an existing suppression of his name and current occupation after lawyers for the Crown and the Herald argued it should be made public.
But the man's lawyer, Judith Ablett Kerr, QC, immediately lodged an appeal and an interim suppression order was granted.
The man was found guilty by a jury in August on six counts of indecent assault relating to three women. The offences happened in Auckland in 1999 over a nine-month period.
Prosecutor Phil Hamlin sought a jail term of three to four years. He told the court the officer had taken advantage of vulnerable women who were seeking his assistance and, in doing so, had tarnished the reputations of other ambulance drivers.
The effect on his victims was significant, even though the offending happened nearly 10 years ago.
"Quite clearly they were women who relied on him ... the abuse of trust has made them more cautious and less trusting of emergency services."
Judge Johns said one women, in her victim impact statement, described the assault as life-changing.
The judge rejected a defence claim that the offending was "a step too far".
"I do not accept what happened was acceptable legitimate examination that went too far. I'm of the view there was no reason whatsoever for you to have had your hands under [the patients] underwear or near [her] vagina."
Mrs Ablett Kerr sought a sentence of home detention but this was refused by Judge Johns, who doubted he could be rehabilitated when he still denied committing the offences.
