Cairns hospital nurse Mark David Chalmers pleads guilty to indecent treatment of child

A Cairns hospital nurse and voluntary firefighter who was “significantly” involved in the Cairns community has been sentenced for the indecent treatment of a young girl.

A LONG-SERVING Cairns hospital nurse and voluntary firefighter who was “significantly” involved in the Cairns community has been sentenced to jail for the indecent treatment of a young girl.

Mark David Chalmers, 62, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Cairns District Court on Wednesday on three counts of indecent treatment of a child under the age of 12.

Crown prosecutor Gelma Meoli told the court Chalmers had no criminal history and the complainant was aged between eight and nine years at the time of his offending.

Ms Meoli said on one occasion, Chalmers when babysitting the girl and her siblings, asked the girl to go to the spare bedroom with him, where he closed the door and told her to put her hand inside his shorts while he molested her through her clothes.

“He told the complainant not to tell anyone otherwise there would be big consequences,” Ms Meoli said.

Ms Meoli told the court that on a second occasion, Chalmers’ offending was essentially the same except that he did not molest the girl.

On the third occasion in January 2020, the court heard how minutes after Chalmers began abusing the girl, the girl’s stepfather walked into the room.

Cairns Courthouse. Picture: Brendan Radke.

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“The complainant tried to explain what was happening but the stepfather continued telling her to get out of the room,” Ms Meoli said.

The girl apologised and was crying and shaking when explaining to her mother what had happened, the court heard.

The girl’s stepfather returned to the room where Chalmers denied the incident and said: “What, why would she say that?”, the court heard.

“And then he said that a couple of times and went on to say, I’m a male, how do I prove that didn’t happen. That’s right, I can’t,” Ms Meoli told the court.

The court heard he further said: “This is like work, a male nurse can’t go and treat a young female patient without asking first but a woman can go and see a boy no questions asked.”

Ms Meoli described Chalmers’ offending as a “gross breach of trust”.

Defence barrister Joseph Jacobs told the court his client was a nurse of 27 years at the Cairns Hospital who had been suspended from his employment after being charged.

Mr Jacobs said Chalmers made an early plea of guilty and had been involved “quite significantly in the community, offering his services voluntarily”.

Judge Anthony Rafter SC sentenced Chalmers to two years imprisonment, suspended after serving eight months, with an operational period of three years, and placed him on three years probation.

Originally published as Cairns hospital nurse Mark David Chalmers pleads guilty to indecent treatment of child