A Katherine disability support worker has been given six months' jail time for indecently touching her severely disabled client.
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The 25-year-old woman, who the Katherine Times has chosen not to name to protect the identity of the victim, appeared in the Darwin Supreme Court on September 21 after pleading guilty to one count of committing an act of gross indecency in relation to the incident in May 2020.
According to court documents, the victim is "severely handicapped."
The offender had been the victim's carer for around one year when she and another disability carer were helping the victim shower on May 28, 2020.
While the victim was naked, the court heard the offender was seen by the other carer pinching the victim's nipple.
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The other carer asked what the offender was doing, causing her to stop, but then saw the offender touching the victim's clitoris a short time later.
The court heard the offender told her colleague that she was "curious as to what the victim's response would be" and that she was curious about female genitals as a transgender woman who was considering a sex change.
The other carer reported the incident to the offender's employer who then reported the incident to police.
The offender was arrested on June 24, 2020.
Justice Sonia Brownhill described the act as a serious breach of trust.
"The victim was a vulnerable woman with disabilities and no capacity to complain to anyone about your conduct or to protect or remove herself," Justice Brownhill told the court.
"She was in your care, and you breached her trust and the trust of her family.
"The community expects people who are employed to care for people with disabilities to treat their clients with respect and dignity at all times."
The court heard, via a victim impact statement from the victim's mother, that she has trouble trusting her daughter's new carers after the incident.
"She found it very difficult to explain to her family members, who were in shock when they heard what had happened," Justice Brownhill told the court.
"For a long time after, she was told she had problems trusting the other carers with the victim, being worried that something else might happen to her. She still thinks about it and worries if her daughter is okay and if the carers are looking after her properly."
In sentencing the offender to six months' prison, Justice Brownhill told the court the sentence had been reduced due to the offender's prior good character and lack of criminal record.
She also said the offending was mitigated by the fact that it was not for "sexual gratification."
"In mitigation, the conduct did not involve physical harm, threats or the possession or use of a weapon. It did not involve any intention of harm," Justice Brownhill said.
"It was not motivated by your sexual gratification but by your curiosity arising from your transition. The offending was not prolonged or premeditated, and you were wearing hygienic gloves at the time."
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