Hospital worker placed on sex offenders register for lift assault

A hospital worker who groped and tried to kiss a nurse in a lift has been spared jail.

The woman - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - described being “really startled” when Bubacarr Touray got in the lift and faced her.

She claimed he said “You’re a beautiful woman, you’re my type of woman” then tried to kiss her.

The terrified nurse was pushed into the corner by Touray who then felt her chest over her clothes.

Touray denied the sex attack at his trial Glasgow Sheriff Court, and claimed he only put his arms around her and hugged her.

But sheriff Diana McConnell rejected this and convicted Touray, 43, from Scotstoun, of the indecent assault at the Queen Elizabeth hospital on November 16, 2016.

He was also accused of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by trying to speak to her, following her in to the lift and travelling to the same floor as her for no reason and making inappropriate remarks but was acquitted of this charge.

Yesterday (Thurs) sheriff McConnell said his crime met “the threshold for custody” but handed him a community payback order with 160 hours unpaid work and two years supervision.

She told him: “I found you guilty of a charge which I consider a serious offence.

“In my view the offence is aggravated significantly both in terms of where and when it was committed and because of the impact it had on the complainer.”

Touray will also be on the sex offenders register for two years.

In evidence, his victim said that during her break at work she went to her car and on the way back up to her ward saw Touray at the lifts - who she recognised as a hospital porter or member of domestic staff.

She said by the time she walked into the lift and turned round, he was facing her.

She recalled: “As soon as he came in it was startling. He just stood there, the doors closed and the first thing he said to me ‘you’re a beautiful woman, you’re my type of woman’, he said it twice.”

The nurse described him as having “glazed eyes” and said he was staring.

She said: “Next minute he came right over, went to put his face or mouth down as if he was going to kiss me and I turned my face to the right then pushed him back.”

She went on to say: “That’s when he grabbed with both shoulders and pushed me back, I went back some steps, I was in the corner.”

She described how Touray touched her left breast.

She immediately shouted “What the f*** are you doing?” and asked him if he was married and children and he told her he did.

She said she shouted again “What the f*** are you doing?” and pushed him back.

By this time she was near her floor and seconds later the lift doors opened and she swiftly got out.

Procurator fiscal depute Angus Crawford asked: “How did you feel?”

She replied: “I was absolutely petrified, I was in a box, I couldn’t get out and there was no way I could even press anything.”

Defence lawyer Graham Bryson said: “He respects the decision of the court and accepts whatever sentence your ladyship hands down, he’s not changed his position from what it was at trial.”

He told the court his client apologises to the woman “for any distressed caused” and said Touray’s partner is standing by him