The former ambulance driver found guilty of indecently assaulting patients in the back of his ambulance has been sentenced.
The judge initially refused to extend an existing suppression of his name and current occupation after the Herald then the Crown argued that it should be made public.
But
the man's lawyer Judith Ablett Kerr, QC, immediately lodged an appeal against the judge's decision and an interim suppression was granted.
The 35-year-old was sentenced to two and a half years in jail at the Manukau District Court.
He was found guilty by a jury at the Auckland District Court of six counts of indecent assault, four of which were on a 16-year-old schoolgirl who had been injured in a car crash.
The offences happened in 1999 and 2000.
He was acquitted of sexual violation and four other indecent assault charges at the Auckland District Court two weeks ago.
The schoolgirl - who was 16 at the time of the assault - told the Auckland District Court that what happened in the ambulance wasn't right.
"I knew what he was doing was wrong. He pulled down my skirt and touched me," she said.
The girl, who was dressed in her school uniform when she was assaulted, said the man pulled down her skirt and underwear and touched her genitals as she lay in the ambulance.
During the trial Ms Kerr said the woman had been more worried about how her parents would react to her car being damaged, and questioned why she didn't immediately report the alleged abuse.
The woman replied: "During the ambulance ride, what happened to me concerned me. When I got to the hospital, my parents were worried about the accident and that got my attention."
After the trial, Detective Sergeant Andy King, said the man had abused the trust people put in Ambulance drivers.
"There has been a huge breach of trust... These were sick and injured women who were at his mercy," Mr King said.
