A nurse has sex with a psychiatric patient and says he was in love – and so was she. The district court in Emmendingen, Baden, convicted him of sexual abuse.
Emmendingen (dpa / lsw) – A nurse has been sentenced to nine months probation for sexually abusing a patient in a psychiatric facility. The district court in Emmendingen, Baden, saw it as proven on Wednesday that the 50-year-old had a sexual relationship with the woman who was being treated as an inpatient.
“It must have been an exceptional situation,” said presiding judge Stefan Lennig. The trained geriatric nurse was charged with sexual abuse of the sick and those in need of help in connection with sexual abuse using a treatment relationship.
The public prosecutor had pleaded for a suspended sentence of one year. The court refrained from issuing a professional ban for the field of psychiatry, for which the public prosecutor’s office had campaigned. The defense had asked for an acquittal.
The accused, who has no criminal record, admitted in court that he had had sexual intercourse with the woman several times, including within the facility in southern Baden. “I was in love. She was in love.” He was not informed about her medical diagnosis.
The public prosecutor argued that the aspect of consensualness was not important because there was no relationship “on an equal footing”. In addition, the accused is 27 years older than the woman and the initiative came from him. The man had crossed a line that should not have been crossed. Defense attorney Jens Janssen said the law was not aimed at nurses but at psychotherapists who specifically exploited therapy to have sex with patients.