WEB EXTRA: Trial continues for paramedic accused of sexual assault

By Sarah Payne - The Tri-City News - May 14, 2008

The trial of a paramedic accused of sexually assaulting a disabled boy started this week with testimony from the boy's mother and the ambulance attendant who said he witnessed the alleged assault.

The boy's mother called paramedics early on the morning of June 23, 2007 after accidentally giving her 12-year-old son, who has autism and other developmental disabilities, an overdose of medication. (Neither mother nor son can be identified.)

Although he is generally happy and outgoing, his mother testified that last May his medication was changed, causing her son to go through periods of extreme agitation and aggression. He was particularly excited the night of June 22, refusing to settle down and go to sleep.

At about 6 a.m., she remembered the sedative prescription she'd been told to use if the boy couldn't calm down.

"To my horror, I realized it was supposed to be injected," the mother testified Monday in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court. She had received no training in how to inject the medication and said even if she had, she wouldn't have been able to give her son a needle.

In her groggy state, she decided to give him the drug orally and mixed what she thought was the correct dosage into a glass of milk, only later realizing it was actually four times the correct amount. She called 911, saying she feared her son was going into seizures.

Firefighters arrived at the door a few minutes later — much to the boy's excitement, his mother testified — followed by BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) paramedic Steven Koivisto.

Koivisto testified that when he and fellow paramedic Mark Husereau, who is on trial, arrived at the Coquitlam townhouse complex, they found the boy standing outside with firefighters. As the attending paramedic that day, Koivisto asked the boy how he was doing.

"He seemed happy and excited," Koivisto testified, adding the boy said he was feeling okay, didn't complain of any illness or pain, and just wanted to climb into the ambulance.

A firefighter told Koivisto the boy had autism and his mother had accidentally given him too much medication, information he said Husereau would likely have heard because he was within earshot. Koivisto testified he then asked Husereau to check the boy's vital signs while he went into the home to get more medical history from the mother.

A few minutes later, Koivisto returned and was talking to the fire captain, with his back partially turned to the back doors of the ambulance, when he heard Husereau ask, "Does it hurt here?"

Koivisto said his interest was piqued because he hadn't heard the boy or his mother say he was in any pain. The mother had testified earlier that her son could articulate physical pain, such as from a cut finger, but that a stomach ache or headache could be too much of an abstraction for him to communicate.

When Koivisto turned around, he said he saw Husereau's left hand on the boy's inner left thigh, near the groin.

Still looking at the boy, Husereau then placed his hand on the boy's genitals, over his pyjamas, and asked, "How about here?" Koivisto said.

Koivisto asked Husereau what he was doing and said he immediately took his hand away but didn't say anything. He joined Husereau in the back of the ambulance to buckle the boy onto the stretcher and repeatedly told Husereau, "Let's just go."

When asked by Crown counsel Louise Kenworthy about the kind of training paramedics receive on dealing with children, Koivisto said they are taught to explain what they're doing and why before starting a procedure or assessment. Examining a child's genital area is rarely necessary, he said, and if required, should be done with another trusted adult present.

During cross-examination, Husereau's lawyer, Archie Kaario, suggested Husereau did not know the boy was autistic and that his examination of the boy's groin area could be consistent with checking for incontinence due to seizures. Kaario also questioned Koivisto on the quality of his eyesight and whether he was five or 15 feet from the back of the ambulance when he turned around and saw the alleged incident.

In questioning Koivisto about his patient care report on the boy, Kaario noted the paramedic had written he "politely" asked Husereau what he was doing and said it was actually anything but polite.

Kaario suggested Koivisto wrote that in order to make himself look good to his employer, even in a stressful situation, which Koivisto denied.

Husereau has pleaded not guilty to sexual interference of a person under 14 and sexual assault. The trial continues.

A BCAS spokesperson said that Husereau was dismissed last July following an internal investigation.

spayne@tricitynews.com

Email | Print | Letter to Editor | Share on Facebook

WEB EXTRA: Trial continues for paramedic accused of sexual assault

Most read in your Region

Most read across BC