1-year ban for paramedic who hid sex offender status

An NSW paramedic has been struck off and banned from practising for at least 12 months after failing to disclose to his employer that he had sexually assaulted a colleague overseas and was listed as a registered sex offender.

The Civil and Administrative Tribunal has struck off a NSW paramedic and banned him from practising for at least 12 months after it was revealed he failed to disclose a sexual assault conviction to multiple healthcare and professional regulatory bodies.

Sipho Gift Nkanyezi, a qualified paramedic in Queensland since 2014, moved to the United Kingdom in 2016, where he worked as a registered paramedic with the London Ambulance Service until 2019.

During the tribunal hearing, it was revealed that Nkanyezi sexually assaulted a fellow paramedic at a birthday party in London in the early hours of 4 May 2019.

Before the assault, the tribunal heard that Nkanyezi had already made the victim feel uncomfortable at the birthday party.

When the group went to a club, she described his dancing as “sexualised”, and said he refused to stop even after she confronted him about it and had to ask her friend to “come to her aid” if he got any closer.

Later, the group returned to the victim’s house, where arrangements were made for Nkanyezi to sleep on the ground floor with the others, while the victim went upstairs to share a bed with her friend.

However, at 5:54 am, Nkanyezi sent the victim a message, which she ignored. Moments later, he went upstairs and sat on the floor next to the bed where she was sleeping.

The tribunal heard that moments later, Nkanyezi began touching the victim’s “shorts and touched her vaginal area”, at which point she “froze and crossed her legs”, trying to protect herself.

He then moved his hand to her chest and again touched her vaginal area, prompting the victim to get out of bed and scream at him, “Get out! Get out of my house!”, which he did.

Later that day, Nkanyezi sent the victim a message on Facebook Messenger, complaining about being kicked out of her home, to which she fired back, “You fucking touched me while I was sleeping, you can fuck off”.

He persisted, sending multiple messages despite her pleas to stop – including one that read, “Am ready to fight every allegation you mentioned with all my might mate, and I can. Be assured of that”.

On the same day, the victim reported the incident to both the police and the London Ambulance Service, leading to Nkanyezi’s immediate suspension, and just two days later, he was formally charged with sexual assault.

After resigning on 31 July 2019, the then 35-year-old returned to Australia and began working for NSW Ambulance just months after being charged with sexual assault in the UK.

Nkanyezi returned to the UK in December 2021 to face a jury trial, where he pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault. During this time, he took leave from NSW Ambulance but failed to disclose that the leave was due to the criminal proceedings.

A UK jury later found him guilty, sentencing him to 18 months in prison, converted to a 24-month suspended sentence, fining him £2,000, and placing him on the UK sex offenders register for 10 years.

After his conviction, he later returned to Australia and resumed work at NSW Ambulance in February 2022.

However, Nkanyezi failed to notify the National Board within the required seven days of both his charge and subsequent conviction. He also never informed the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) or NSW Ambulance about either the charge or the conviction.

Additionally, each time he renewed his Australian registration with AHPRA, Nkanyezi continued to falsely declare that he had no new criminal history.

It wasn’t until an anonymous tip brought his conviction to AHPRA’s attention in late November 2023 that Nkanyezi resigned from NSW Ambulance.

The Tribunal found that Nkanyezi’s conduct demonstrated no “remorse or remediation,” leaving an ongoing risk to his “female colleagues, patients and the public”.

“The conduct was dishonest and deceptive, and in breach of the professional behaviour and conduct expected of paramedics to embody integrity and honesty. The practitioner’s conduct was thus, plainly, ‘unethical’,” the Tribunal stated.

It also determined that Nkanyezi’s lack of engagement in the disciplinary process indicated a “reluctance to come to terms with the gravity of his criminal conduct and the impact upon the victim and the reputation of paramedics”.

Hence, the Tribunal ruled that his conduct was “incompatible with what is an acceptable standard of behaviour for a registered paramedic” and is a “substantial risk to the health of members of the public as a paramedic”.

Alongside having his resignation effectively cancelled for 12 months and being prohibited from providing health services during that period, the Tribunal also ruled that he must pay the Health Care Complaints Commission’s legal costs.

After 12 months, he will be able to apply for a review to re-register himself as a paramedic.