John Radcliffe Hospital cleaner jailed for pestering patient

Gaspar Moreira, who has previous convictions for sexual assault, ignored the woman’s requests for him to stop – then began pleading with her not to go to report him to the police when he realised he might lose his job.

The 33-year-old had only begun the John Radcliffe Hospital cleaning job two weeks before he spotted his victim in a waiting area in December last year.

READ MORE: Banbury man arrested after crack raid

Prosecuting, Laura Blackband said Moreira had approached the lone woman and struck up a conversation with her. He grabbed her phone, typed out his number and called himself.

“She told him to leave her alone and he walked away,” the prosecutor said.

He went on to call the woman via video chat from the toilet, asking the stranger to ‘come and have sex with him’.

Moreira continued to call her, despite the woman’s demands that he stop. “What took place from then on was unwanted phone contact.”

He sent further ‘sexual videos’, although he had not pleaded guilty to that conduct.

By December 9, the woman had reported the harassment to the hospital. Ms Blackband said: “The defendant was told not to contact her but persisted in doing so.

“He realised at this point his job was in jeopardy. [He sent] a number of pretty pathetic messages.

“He’d obviously come to his senses by that point but kept contacting her.”

In his messages, Moreira begged the woman not to go to the police, fearing he would lose his job.

Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter (Image: Newsquest)

The police did, ultimately, get involved and arrested the defendant when the allegations came to light. In interview, he accepted approaching the woman but did not admit the harassment or the extent of contact with her.

Appearing before Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (April 13), Moreira, of Bernwood Road, Oxford, pleaded guilty to a charge of simple harassment.

He had previously faced more serious allegations of sexual assault, exposure and perverting the course of justice. Those allegations were dropped by the prosecution at this week’s hearing.

The court heard Moreira had previous convictions, including for sexual assault and attempted sexual assault. He was subject to a community order for unrelated offences at the time of the harassment last December.

Mitigating, Nawaz Khan said his client had been concerned about losing his job, on which his elderly grandparents in East Timor relied. He was married.

The advocate asked the judge to accept his client’s apology for what he had done.

Sending him to prison for 12 weeks, Judge Ian Pringle KC said: “You thought there was a possibility she might report the matter to the police [and] you became understandably worried.

“You became worried no doubt because you’d had dealings for inappropriate sexual behaviour in the past and been dealt with for it.”