Easter Ross window cleaner jailed for three years and slammed for 'gross abuse' after sexual assault of dementia sufferer
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AN Easter Ross window cleaner who also offered his clients a mobile massage service was jailed for three years after being convicted of sexually assaulting an 87-year-old woman suffering from dementia.
David Carey filmed himself on his smart phone massaging the breasts of the woman, who has since died, and police found it on his computer.
The 26-minute long video was earlier played for the jury. Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood had warned them at Inverness Sheriff Court during the March trial that some may find it "distressing".
In the footage, Carey adjusted the camera to ensure his massage of the woman’s naked breasts could be seen properly.
Jailing him and placing him on the sex offender’s register for an indefinite period, Sheriff Fleetwood told him: “I agree with the jury’s verdict. This was a course of conduct over a extended period involving the gross abuse of an elderly lady who had lost her capacity to give her consent and you should have been aware of this.”
Defence solicitor Neil Wilson said the Sheriff could consider a strict community-based disposal but he had warned his client that jail was “a near certainty".
He added: “He still maintains he is not guilty and I have character references for him from people who had no concerns about his massage. He has also provided me with his qualification certificate.”
Carey, (60), of Lamington, Kildary, had denied sexually assaulting the woman by handling the naked breasts and genitals of the dementia sufferer at a property near Dornoch on various occasions between 2015 and 2017.
The woman died in December 2017, having been diagnosed as suffering from vascular dementia two years prior.
A legal document was drawn up to allow her doctors to treat her without her consent because she lacked the capacity to approve it.
Her GP had told the court that her condition worsened in the two years since her diagnosis. He said that she had significant memory loss and cognitive impairment.
He had described her as at an advanced stage of decline and said he would would expect a lay person to see there was something really wrong with her.
Detective Constable Christopher Robertson interviewed Carey after the video was recovered from his home.
Carey claimed he had qualified as a massage therapist at Inverness College and offered a full range of techniques, including a "sensual massage".
He added that he would only do these massages "if I felt comfortable" and alleged he had several female clients who wanted it. However he declined to name them.
He said he performed this type of massage on many occasions to his victim with her consent.
.Carey explained to officers that he filmed some massages without his clients' knowledge to ensure his posture was correct as he injured his back working in the building trade.
"I didn't think they would mind." Carey said.
