Adobe StockA healthcare support worker who sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman while in hospital has been jailed for 20 months.
Adam Mushtaq, 28, attacked the then 18-year-old at a hospital in Glasgow on January 25, 2024.
Mushtaq, of the city’s Croftfoot, was tasked with watching over the woman who had earlier tried to take her own life.
Mushtaq initially hugged and kissed the woman before sexually assaulting her.
He ignored her pleas to stop and was only thwarted after doctors entered her room.
Mushtaq falsely claimed to them that he had been playing Grand Theft Auto on his mobile phone.
First offender Mushtaq was found guilty last month at Glasgow Sheriff Court of sexually assaulting the woman.
Mushtaq returned to be sentenced before Sheriff Joan Kerr on Tuesday, October 6.
The sheriff told him: “Such conduct is always serious, and you are very well aware that what makes your conduct particularly serious is that you breached the position of trust when conducting yourself in this way.
“This victim was particularly vulnerable and was 18 years old at the time, and the evidence she gave is undoubtedly the most difficult evidence I have watched in terms of the effect that your actions have had upon her.
“She has stressed that to the court in her victim impact statement, which told me the impact your conduct has had.
“You were a healthcare professional tasked with safeguarding her when you conducted yourself in this way.
“Rather than doing that, you committed opportunistic and sexually motivated offences.
“The fact of the matter is you accept no responsibility for the offending behaviour, and instead you have placed blame on the vulnerable victim, and for that reason I am not satisfied that any supervision I can put in place can be an appropriate disposal.
“Having to recall her experience in evidence would have been a painful experience for this victim.
“Having regard to all the circumstances, I have reached the conclusion that society’s disapproval of your conduct can be expressed by the imposition of custody.”
Mushtaq was put on the sex offenders register for ten years. A four-year non-harassment order was also imposed, which prohibits him from contacting his victim in any way.
The court previously heard from the woman who gave recorded evidence earlier this year, which was played to the jury.
The woman told the court that Mushtaq initially showed things to her on his phone.
He then displayed two naked pictures of himself and told her, “Don’t look at that”.
The woman stated that Mushtaq later hugged her while standing up.
The woman’s police statement was read back to her after she became visibly upset giving evidence.
She said after the hug: “He started kissing me on the hand and told me I was beautiful.”
The woman stated that Mushtaq went on to make sexual comments to her and asked if he was making her feel “uncomfortable.”
Mushtaq initially left the room and came back in before he shut the door, before he made further sexual comments.
The woman then described Mushtaq putting one of his arms around her and sexually assaulting her.
The woman said: “I kept saying no, I just kind of let it happen, I didn’t know what to do.”
Later on in her statement, the woman said: “I didn’t expect something like that to happen in hospital.
“I kept saying ‘what if the nurses come in’ and he said he would just move.
“The doctors then came in, and he said we were playing Grand Theft Auto on his phone – he pulled it up on his phone and showed them.”
Mushtaq stayed with the woman until she was discharged and took her into the staff lift.
She stated that inside the lift, Mushtaq “was kissing me on the lift and tried to lift my jumper”.
He then put her in a taxi home.
The pair added each other on Facebook and spoke via text message.
She said: “I don’t know why I messaged him back, but I did.”
The woman later received a text message which said: “Have a good sleep beautiful xx”
Amy Hunter, defending at trial, asked the woman if Mushtaq was sitting on the chair next to her, playing Grand Theft Auto.
She replied: “He wasn’t playing it, it was just for show.”
Miss Hunter: “Did you play it with him?”
The woman: “No.”
Ms Hunter later put to the woman that Mushtaq denied the allegations, which included not making the comments towards her, to which she replied: “Bull****.”
The woman reported the matter to her two support workers after she was discharged from hospital.
Waqqas Ashraf, defending at the sentencing, said: “He fully acknowledges that what he is convicted of is an extremely serious offence.
“He understands what he has been convicted of is a breach of trust involving a victim who was in his care and was vulnerable.
“He knows that at the forefront of your mind will be a custodial disposal – none of that is lost on him.
“The background report indicates that it appears to be opportunistic rather than sinisterly planned beforehand.”
It was revealed that Mushtaq is no longer married and has been working in the restaurant trade after losing his job as a healthcare worker.
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