The former Peel Health Campus security guard convicted earlier this year over the sexual assault of a teenage girl in his care was sentenced to four and a half years’ imprisonment on Friday.
Shaun David Fairfield stood trial in May in the Perth District Court, charged with five counts of indecent dealing with a child, and two counts of sexual penetration of a child.
The charges related to incidents on hospital grounds in May, 2014.
A jury found Fairfield guilty of three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual penetration.
Fairfield was found not guilty of two counts of indecent dealing and one count of sexual penetration.
During sentencing Judge Michael Bowden said the law was designed to protect young girls from being taken advantage of.
“At the time, you were 35 years old, you were the adult and it’s your responsibility clearly to resist and refrain from any sexual conduct,” he said.
“Members of the public are entitled to resort to a hospital, particularly children, without the fear that they’re, in effect, going to be the subject of sexual assaults by hospital employees.
“There is a need to protect vulnerable victims who are seeking medical treatment in a public hospital from behaviour of this sort.”
Fairfield was made eligible for parole, meaning his earliest release date could be in two and a half years.
His sentence was backdated to May 23.
