Disabled woman had to crawl on floor and ‘barricade’ herself in bedroom after carer sexually assaulted her – Manchester Evening News

A carer who sexually assaulted a vulnerable disabled woman at a respite centre has been jailed.

Frank Iyamu, 56, put his hand down the top of his victim who has cerebral palsy - and touched her breast before putting his hand between her legs over her clothing.

Iyamu claims that he took no sexual gratification from the attack.

Instead he was attempting to humiliate the victim after becoming impatient, Manchester Crown Court heard.

But a judge said the motive made no difference and jailed Iyamu for two and a half years after he was convicted by a jury of one count of sexual assault.

The victim, who needs a wheelchair or walking frame to move about, had crawled to barricade herself in a bedroom in the wake of the assault, the court heard.

Iyamu was the only staff member on duty at the time of the attack and was in fact working his first shift as an agency worker at the centre, in north Manchester.

Prosecutor Darren Preston said the centre has provided the victim and her mother with respite care for many years.

But she eventually felt unable to return after the assault because she had lost confidence.

In a victim personal statement, the victims mother said her daughter came home crying immediately after the assault and her behaviour changed.

She was not her usually bubbly self, she said.

The mother said the victim used to bottle up her emotions when she was younger and that behaviour has resurfaced and she has started to lash out, which is totally out of character.

The victim has stopped using both the respite centre and a day centre since the attack because it reminded her of what had happened.

The court heard how both mother and daughter have since left Manchester as a direct result of the assault by Iyamu.

I refuse to let his actions spoil her life any more than he has already done, the victims mother said in a statement read out in court.

He was supposed to be a carer, not an attacker and I cant understand how he acted in such a vile way.

I hope he has some remorse for his actions.

I hope he never gets the opportunity to work with vulnerable adults again so he cant put anyone else through it.

Mr Preston added: This offence may not have been committed for sexual effect but rather cruelty and a desire to punish.

The court heard how the victim struggles with mobility and is unable to walk, instead using a walking frame or wheelchair.

In the moments after the attack she had crawled to another room, was upset and put her weight against the door to stop Iyamu entering some time later.

Iyamu denied touching the victim and ran a trial.

He made allegations that the victim had made sexual overtones towards him by pulling up her top on the day of the assault.

William Staunton, defending, said there was no suggestion that the victim was trying to escape further physical intrusion.

The offence, he said, was momentary and it was not committed for sexual purposes but rather humiliation after becoming impatient.

The barrister said Iyamu who can no longer pursue a career in the caring profession - is at a low risk of re-offending.

He knows he has damaged her and that she has been harmed by this experience, he added.

Hes destroyed his own ambition. He has lost everything through his actions.

This is not a dangerous sexual predator.

Judge Suzanne Goddard QC jailed Iyamu, from Gorton, for two and a half years.

She said: Im not certain what your motivation was. Whether you just struck out in anger out of the desire to punish - but this was a sexual assault.

Describing the case as an abuse of trust the judge said Iyamu is not fit to work with vulnerable people and has limited understanding for their difficulties.

This is a serious matter, she added.

You were a care worker. You must have known that this sort of behaviour was clearly unacceptable.

Judge Goddard QC also made a sexual harm prevention order, preventing Iyamu from working with children or adults with a physical or mental disability for a period of ten years.

He is also banned from contact with the victim and her mother and cannot go within 100m of the respite centre, also for ten years.

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Disabled woman had to crawl on floor and 'barricade' herself in bedroom after carer sexually assaulted her - Manchester Evening News