Nursing home carer accused of sex attack on elderly resident with dementia

A male carer allegedly sexually assaulting an elderly female resident with “extreme dementia” after giving her a bath in a Sydney nursing home.

Michael Schuppe

WARNING: Graphic content

A male nurse accused of sexually assaulting an elderly resident in a Sydney nursing home allegedly carried out the attack after giving her a sponge bath and changing her night pad.

Michael William Schuppe, 59, was on Sunday granted bail after he was charged on Saturday over the alleged incident in October. The court heard Mr Schuppe — who also cared for his own mother as a high-needs patient — will fight the allegation.

Police allege that Mr Schuppe digitally penetrated the 89-year-old while he and another carer were helping the woman prepare for bed at the Queen Victoria Memorial Home in Picton, Sydney’s southwest, on October 8.

The two carers had just lifted the woman with “extreme dementia” from her wheelchair using a sling and given her a sponge bath when Mr Schuppe fitted the woman with a night pad and carried out the assault, the documents state.

Mr Schuppe’s co-worker allegedly heard the woman yell: “Don’t do that.”

Michael Schuppe has been charged over the alleged incident.

But the co-worker didn’t come forward initially — rather she marked the date on a calendar with four initials which police allege is code referring to the incident.

Weeks later, on November 29, the co-worker reported that Mr Schuppe was “doing bad things” around the home and he was suspended.

Police arrested him two days later at his house in Eschol Park. He appeared at Parramatta Bail Court via videolink on Sunday charged with aggravated sexual assault.

Michael Schuppe is a father and grandfather.

Michael Schuppe will fight the allegation.

He sat silently in a tiny room at Amber Laurel correctional centre in Sydney’s west, shaking his head as police prosecution warned that he was a danger to vulnerable people, AAP reports.

Despite no criminal history or violent convictions, a custodial sentence would be “inevitable” if he were found guilty, the prosecution said. But Mr Schuppe’s lawyer told the court he “strenuously denied” the allegation and had a spotless record. The prosecutor told the court that his suspension from work meant vulnerable elderly people were not at risk.

Mr Schuppe was granted bail on the condition he did not look for work in the aged care sector or other disability service, reports daily to police and lives in Eschol Park.

The matter is next listed at Picton Local Court in January.

— With AAP

[e-mail]