THE TRIAL of a former psychiatric nurse accused of sexually assaulting patients and a colleague in Greenock is now underway – almost three years after case first called in court.
Graham Davis, 53, faces multiple charges of sexual assault and threatening and abusive behaviour towards four women between January 2016 and November 2017.
During his employment as a community psychiatric nurse at Crown House, he is accused of attending the home of a patient unannounced, touching her clothing, making inappropriate comments and rubbing her buttocks.
Davis is also said to have placed his hand on the woman’s bare thigh, attempted to kiss her, seized hold of her, and touched her body and breasts.
Further charges allege he made inappropriate comments to a second patient in the same year, and sexually assaulted a third by placing his hand on her knee and stroking her face.
He also faces a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards a colleague at Langhill Clinic at Inverclyde Royal Hospital.
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A witness told Greenock Sheriff Court that she attended appointments with Davis at Crown House during a period when she was ‘suicidal’.
The woman was referred to the crisis service by her doctor and met with him on three occasions in 2016.
She told the court that Davis recognised her from a previous stay in an Ayrshire hospital, and that he was ‘overfriendly’ and ‘like a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time’.
The witness recalled Davis placing his hand on her knee and stroking her face with his finger during an appointment, but said he did not ‘rub or squeeze’ her leg in any way.
She said: “When we were chatting, it wasn’t about the issue at hand.
“He was more interested in talking about my own personal relationship with my partner at the time.
“I had to keep steering the conversation back to why I was there.
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“I was very taken aback. I have never had a professional behave that way with me before.”
The woman, who was residing in accommodation provided by Women’s Aid at the time, agreed that domestic violence in a previous relationship was a factor which had impacted her mental state in the past.
Defence solicitor David Nicholson asked: “Can you appreciate with hindsight that discussing the terms of your relationship would be an important aspect to investigate?”
She replied: “No. It’s not that it wasn’t a relevant topic – it was not the reason why I was there.”
A second witness, who was a colleague of Davis at the clinic, gave evidence relating to an incident when she was on a shift with him at Langhill Clinic in November 2017.
The court heard that he switched the office lights off as the pair were preparing to leave.
The witness said: “Graham was at the door and he said, ‘Am I getting a kiss and a cuddle to wrap the weekend up?’.
“I was still at my desk at the computer.
“I was really scared. I was shocked and I was frightened.”
Mr Nicholson put it to the witness that she and Davis had made a complaint about her, calling her ‘a bully in the workplace’.
The witness denied knowledge of this, saying: “That’s not my manner. I wouldn’t agree with that.
“I have never been called a bully in the workplace.”
The trial was adjourned part-heard, with evidence to be heard from further witnesses on February 1 next year.
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