A hospital patient who was sexually targeted by a support staff member she thought she could trust told a court the man 'destroyed' her life.
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The woman said she was now too scared to leave her home in fear of running into the perpetrator which had deeply affected her well-being and stolen her chances of a 'normal life'.
Former Ballarat Health Services Aboriginal liaison officer Andrew Green, 46, sexually targeted one patient and three workers between 2018 and 2020 while he was employed.
The Sebastopol man pleaded guilty to three charges of using a carriage service in an offensive manner.
He had pleaded not guilty to two charges of sexual touching without consent and the victims gave evidence during a contested hearing.
Magistrate Mark Stratmann said on Thursday he found the two contested charges were proven and he would sentence Green on all five offences.
One victim who was a patient of the hospital had known Green for many years as a client of Aboriginal liaison services.
She was admitted to hospital in 2020 and Green visited her before she was discharged.
I should have been able to trust you... you violated that role in the most awful way.
- Victim
The woman received a Facebook friend request from Green and they began conversations, but Green's messages became sexualised with comments about her breasts and a photo of his genitals.
"My well-being has been deeply affected as I cannot live a normal life. I cannot go out of my house in case I run into Andrew Green," she said to the court while reading out her emotional victim impact statement.
The victim said she would tell people she was sick so she did not have to leave the home and had not seen family and friends who were special to her for long periods of time.
"I cannot sleep. Since this happened to me I sleep with a light on. I feel scared all the time," she said.
"Sometimes in the hard times I feel sick and vomit. I now hate my body because of you. I don't trust anybody because of you.
"I feel like you totally destroyed me as a person... Because of you Andrew I feel like a prisoner in my own home."
The woman said her health had deteriorated and she held off going to hospital as long as she could because that is where the harassment began.
"You used the fact I was a patient in the hospital to gain access to me," she said.
"I discharge myself from hospital as I am scared to stay. I should have been able to trust you... you violated that role in the most awful way."
Another victim was a hospital employee and began to receive messages from Green via Facebook that became increasingly sexualised with pictures of his crotch and an invitation to 'try out his couch'.
A couple of months after the messages stopped, Green sat next to the victim during a staff meeting and squeezed her upper thigh when others were leaving the room.
The victim said she felt trapped and that she could not report the messages to her employer or tell her friends and was worried if she did make a report it would affect her career.
Another victim said she tried to 'shrug off' sexualised comments from Green in the workplace but he soon started touching her and one time pressed behind her so she felt a partial erection against her back.
I thought no one would believe me. You were seen as a loveable family person.
- Victim
The woman told the court she felt she had to manage their interactions and that it was easier to return to friendly conversation than to confront what had happened.
Green looked down and shook his head when Mr Stramann announced he found Green guilty of the two contested sexual touching charges.
His wife cried in the chair behind him when the guilty verdict was handed down.
Green continued to shake his head at times when the two victim impact statements were read to the court.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Steve Kent interrupted one of the victims while reading her statement to bring Green's behaviour to the attention of the magistrate.
Green was asked to be moved out of view of the victims.
The court heard Green sent a fourth victim who was also a hospital employee pictures of his crotch and a video of him naked from the waist down in the work toilets wearing his Aboriginal work shirt.
One woman wrote in her victim impact statement she never thought she would be someone to suffer an assault, let alone remain silent about it to protect the perpetrator.
"You were a highly respected Aboriginal community member... I believed for a long time if I told someone about what had happened this would get you fired," she said.
"I thought no one would believe me. You were seen as a loveable family person. You made me feel like I could not tell anyone...
"Many times I blamed myself and questioned myself that I caused this."
The victim said she was in a constant state of hyper-vigilance and stress and she could no longer interact with other male colleagues without fear.
"The first report of assaults opened a floodgate in me... I had to step away from work... I could not function properly," she wrote.
"Since 2018 my life has been on autopilot. I am numb and move through each day as if in a fog. This is not me."
Green will remain on bail and return to court in May when another woman will read her victim impact statement to the court and a sentence will be imposed.
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