CLAXTON MAN SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS FOR SEXUAL TRESPASSING ON DEMENTIA PATIENT
A CLACTON man was jailed for five years after admitting trespassing with intent to sexually assault an 83-year-old woman with dementia.Keith Harrigan, 57, of Gorse Lane, was employed by Essex County Council to take elderly people to and from a day care centre three times a week.
The court heard the woman’s carer entered her Clacton home and discovered she was already out of bed and sitting on the sofa naked from the waist down.
Harrigan was discovered in the toilet looking "panicky" and "breathless".
The woman was entirely dependant on carers and was unable to get out of bed, wash and dress herself.
Harrigan appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday and admitted trespassing with intent to cause a sexual offence on March 25 this year.
Matthew Gowen, prosecuting, said: "The woman's husband died in 1980 but she still talks of him as if he was alive.
"She was diagnosed with dementia in 2005 and has suffered two strokes.
"Medical professionals have said she didn't have the mental capacity to consent to any sort of sexual relationship or activity and she could have believed the defendant was her husband." The court heard how the woman had been forced to leave her home and move to a care home for ten weeks while police conducted their investigation and she had "pitifully begged" family members to take her home.
Judge Anthony Goldstaub QC, said Harrigan had destroyed the last of her independence and committed a "gross breach of trust".
He added: "This is a country with an ageing population and it is important that the courts protect people as they age and become infirm.
"The courts will make it clear that abuses of power and breaches of trust like this will not be tolerated." The woman's family, present in court, broke down as Harrigan was sentenced to five years in prison.
The original charge of rape was dropped due to lack of forensic evidence.
