Pratheesh Mathew faces disciplinary action as misconduct allegations threaten his future

An aspiring Melbourne nurse denies he had someone sit his English speaking test for him with the nursing board alleging he was thousands of miles away at the time.

Pratheesh Mathew faces disciplinary action as misconduct allegations threaten his nursing future.

An aspiring nurse had his registration suspended after he failed an English speaking tests with the nursing board alleging he had someone sit the test for him in India.

Pratheesh Mathew faced VCAT on Thursday after allegations he misled the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia when he said he sat two English speaking test in October and December of 2019.

Mr Mathew, who was working as an aged care assistant in Sale, received a letter in March 2020 telling him his registration was suspended due to his test being cancelled after an investigation found the alleged misconduct.

He was advised he wouldn’t be able to sit another English language exam for a year.

Biometric testing conducted on the voice recorded at the exams found the voices were the same across the two tests which, the board allege, meant the same person — who was not Mr Mathew — attended the exams.

Richard Knowles, who appeared on behalf of the board, said Mr Mathew could not have sat the test as he was in Australia at the time of the second test.

“The voice recorded on the earlier occasion was the same voice (from the December recording) and could not have been the voice of Mr Mathew,” he said.

“The information was false and misleading because another person other than Mr Mathew sat the speaking section of the test in India.”

His flight records show he took multiple trips to India between September and November in 2019, but was in Australia in December.

Mr Mathew gave evidence on Thursday “vehemently” denying the allegations, saying he sat both tests at Pune in India while he was visiting his sick aunt.

But, Mr Knowles said, when he was sent the cancellation letter Mr Mathew took no action to dispute its contents.

“There is no evidence there was any challenge to ETS cancellation, there is no evidence Mr Mathew contacted to query the cancellation,” he said.

Mr Knowles also said Mathew didn’t challenge the immediate action taken by the board to suspend his registration.

The tribunal will hand down a ruling at a later date.