SINGAPORE, July 4 — Ten minutes after the private in-house general practice clinic closed for the day, a male staff nurse pretended to be a doctor and molested a patient by conducting an unwarranted test on her.

Muhammad Ruzaini Johari was sentenced to seven months’ jail today. Yesterday, the 33-year-old trainee deck cadet with a shipping company had pleaded guilty to molesting the 28-year-old victim when he was still working as a nurse with corporate healthcare provider Fullerton Healthcare.

The victim, who works as a components assembler, cannot be named due to a court gag order to protect her identity.

The incident took place at about 8.40pm on May 11 last year.

The victim — a Chinese national who had a headache, pain in her ears, and sore throat — entered the clinic with her husband thinking that it was still open.

Seeing nobody at the counter, the victim’s 33-year-old husband called out loudly for attention. Ruzaini, who was inside the consultation room performing some administrative tasks, responded. When he emerged moments later, the victim, who was not fluent in English, gestured to her head and said "fever”.

Ruzaini, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, got her to enter the consultation room.

There, court documents said he "(sat) on the doctor’s chair”, and proceeded to measure her temperature, check her throat, take her blood pressure, and examine her with a stethoscope.

Then, he got her to lie down on the examination bed, and lifted her shirt to expose her stomach for a physical examination.

Subsequently, he conducted an electrocardiogram test on her, as he was "thrilled by the prospect of being able to get (the woman) to expose her breasts to him”, Deputy Public Prosecutor Marshall Lim said.

The test required him to place the electrodes on various parts of her body, including her breasts.

Telling her "check, check”, Ruzaini proceeded to expose the woman’s chest, and placed six electrodes on her breasts, and another four on her ankles and wrists.

His odd actions alarmed the victim, who sat up, confronted Ruzaini, before getting dressed and stomping out of the consultation room.

Once out, she burst into tears and told her husband that Ruzaini had removed her bra.

Sensing that he is in trouble, Ruzaini tried to placate the couple and persuaded them not to call the police. But the husband called 999 at 8.58pm and reported a case of molest.

Seeking a nine-month sentence for Ruzaini today, DPP Lim said there is an "abuse of trust” between Ruzaini and the victim, as she complied with his directions, thinking that he was in a position to treat her.

Calling his client’s actions "one-off” and "uncharacteristic”, defence lawyer, Sunil Sudheesan, argued for a sentence of around six months, noting that his client had informed the woman that the doctor was no longer around, and had told her to return the next morning.

But the victim continued to gesture at her throat and kept coughing, so Ruzaini took it as a sign that she wanted to be attended to regardless, he said.

"Such a belief (that Ruzaini is a doctor) was borne out of a misunderstanding that was created by a language barrier,” he added.

Nevertheless, Sudheesan said Ruzaini "unfortunately let temptation get the better of him and allowed the situation to escalate beyond what (he) should have done”.

In sentencing Ruzaini, District Judge Luke Tan said his actions was "clearly distressing and embarrassing” to the victim despite her already feeling unwell and took the prosecution’s point that there was an abuse of trust in this case.

Ruzaini is out on a S$10,000 (RM29,672) bail, and will start serving his sentence on Aug 1.

For his charge of using criminal force intending to outrage the modesty of another person, Ruzaini could have been jailed for up to two years, caned or fined. — TODAY