Longtime employee testifies he tried to help resident
By Andrew Seymour,
Ottawa Citizen
May 26, 2011
A cleaner at a long-term-care home testified Wednesday he was trying to help an 18-yearold severely developmentally delayed resident by covering her up, not sexually assault her by massaging her breasts.
Sovann Phan, 66, said he was changing toilet paper and paper towels in the room the teenager shared with an elderly dementia patient when he noticed the teen lying in bed at the West End Villa with her T-shirt rolled up and her abdomen exposed on June 13, 2009. The teen was only wearing a diaper and had no pants on, Phan said. "I went outside and looked for the nurse, but I didn't see anybody, so I decided to pull the shirt down and then I pulled a blanket to cover her up," Phan said through an interpreter.
"The shirt was kind of rolled up," said Phan, who rolled and then unrolled a tissue to illustrate how he adjusted the teen's shirt. "I had to roll it down."
"Did you ever touch (the teenager's) breasts?" asked Phan's lawyer, Brett McGarry.
"No," said the married father of five. "I thought by helping like that I didn't do anything wrong," he added later.
The story was at odds with the testimony of personal support worker Amina Ege, who testified Tuesday she watched Phan massage the woman's breasts for about five seconds. Ege said she hid in the teen's closet after becoming sus-picious of Phan. Phan, who came to Canada after fleeing a civil war in Cambodia in 1980, has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.
A friend helped Phan, who speaks and writes little English, write a letter to his union that explained what he had done. Phan said he wrote the letter in an attempt to save his job, although one line wasn't true.
"I felt uncertain and asked myself if my help was right or wrong," the letter read, a line which Phan later claimed on cross examination was his friend's idea to add.
Prosecutor James Bocking also quizzed Phan on whether he would ever touch a patient's diaper.
"No," replied Phan. "Because you are not supposed to touch the patient, right?" Bocking asked.
"Yes," said Phan, who earlier testified he was never told not to touch the patients during the 21 years he worked at the West End Villa.
Phan testified he had helped the teenager by pushing her wheelchair back to her room after she returned from school one day, Phan said.
A nurse's aide said she warned Phan never to touch the teenager after she saw him lean over her, hold her hand, and say goodbye. Gail Napoleon testified she told Phan that no man was to be with the teenager. Napoleon said that incident occurred a couple of months before the alleged sexual assault.
Phan said he didn't remember her speaking to him.
"If I knew I get in this kind of trouble I wouldn't have bothered at the time," said Phan, who testified he felt pity for the disabled teen.
By Andrew Seymour,
Ottawa Citizen
May 26, 2011
A cleaner at a long-term-care home testified Wednesday he was trying to help an 18-yearold severely developmentally delayed resident by covering her up, not sexually assault her by massaging her breasts.
Sovann Phan, 66, said he was changing toilet paper and paper towels in the room the teenager shared with an elderly dementia patient when he noticed the teen lying in bed at the West End Villa with her T-shirt rolled up and her abdomen exposed on June 13, 2009. The teen was only wearing a diaper and had no pants on, Phan said. "I went outside and looked for the nurse, but I didn't see anybody, so I decided to pull the shirt down and then I pulled a blanket to cover her up," Phan said through an interpreter.
"The shirt was kind of rolled up," said Phan, who rolled and then unrolled a tissue to illustrate how he adjusted the teen's shirt. "I had to roll it down."
"Did you ever touch (the teenager's) breasts?" asked Phan's lawyer, Brett McGarry.
"No," said the married father of five. "I thought by helping like that I didn't do anything wrong," he added later.
The story was at odds with the testimony of personal support worker Amina Ege, who testified Tuesday she watched Phan massage the woman's breasts for about five seconds. Ege said she hid in the teen's closet after becoming sus-picious of Phan. Phan, who came to Canada after fleeing a civil war in Cambodia in 1980, has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.
A friend helped Phan, who speaks and writes little English, write a letter to his union that explained what he had done. Phan said he wrote the letter in an attempt to save his job, although one line wasn't true.
"I felt uncertain and asked myself if my help was right or wrong," the letter read, a line which Phan later claimed on cross examination was his friend's idea to add.
Prosecutor James Bocking also quizzed Phan on whether he would ever touch a patient's diaper.
"No," replied Phan. "Because you are not supposed to touch the patient, right?" Bocking asked.
"Yes," said Phan, who earlier testified he was never told not to touch the patients during the 21 years he worked at the West End Villa.
Phan testified he had helped the teenager by pushing her wheelchair back to her room after she returned from school one day, Phan said.
A nurse's aide said she warned Phan never to touch the teenager after she saw him lean over her, hold her hand, and say goodbye. Gail Napoleon testified she told Phan that no man was to be with the teenager. Napoleon said that incident occurred a couple of months before the alleged sexual assault.
Phan said he didn't remember her speaking to him.
"If I knew I get in this kind of trouble I wouldn't have bothered at the time," said Phan, who testified he felt pity for the disabled teen.
aseymour@ottawacitizen.com
2 comments:
Some people trying to make money by maken up story...You must very becareful these day, bring someone along to be your witness when doing your works...?
I personally know this man, I am one of many victims that have been sexually abused by Sovann Phann. He's a predator and victimizes young and helpless children. His sentence is far too little for what he's done to other victims that couldn't get a case.
I'm glad he finally got caught!
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