Nurse banned after hitting step-child with wooden spoon

A nurse who tried to fend off accusations after stabbing her stepdaughter with a wooden spoon has had her registration revoked for at least a year.

The 29-year-old, who cannot be legally named, had been working as a registered nurse in regional NSW for three years at the time of the attack.

She and her partner repeatedly hit their stepdaughter with a wooden spoon in September 2021.

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal canceled his registration on Monday, finding that more than four years later he still failed to accept responsibility for his actions.

“Our observation is that she had limited insight into how the circumstances of her crime affected her credibility in the nursing profession,” the court wrote.

The six-year-old girl was admitted to hospital two days after the attack; The girl’s biological mother noted bruising on her upper thigh, buttocks and buttocks.

NSW Police and child protection services have been notified.

The nurse initially pleaded not guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in the presence of others.

He was found guilty of this second charge at the Local Court hearing and on appeal.

He was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order and 170 hours of community service in March 2023.

On Monday, the court heard the woman tried to argue that she had been groomed by the child’s biological mother to claim assault.

Since it was determined that she was unfit to continue working as a nurse, she cannot request reinstatement for 12 months.

“Nurses have a valuable role to play in alerting to suspected domestic violence within their communities, rather than enforcing it,” NCAT wrote.

At a hearing in October, the Health Services Complaints Commission said the woman may have been prejudiced against domestic violence victims in her care because of her own acts of domestic violence.

Nurse argued that the crime was not unprovoked or intentional, but rather an isolated act of “over-punishment”.

He told the court he tried to manage his mood by writing in a journal, seeing his psychologist, taking medication, meditating and reading Bible verses daily.

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