The Editorial
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The man who had sex with an elderly patient, and indecently assaulted another, at Wagga's Calvary hospital can consider himself lucky.
Antony Paul Hanney, 47, will be out of jail in just two years.
Despite being labelled a sexual predator by a judge in the District Court, Hanney has escaped with a three-and-a-half year non parole period for the offences which occurred in 2012.
Given the present controversy surrounding prison sentences for heinous crimes, Hanney's penalty appears, on face value at least, to be manifestly inadequate.
Just for starters he posed as a doctor.
And if that wasn't bad enough the two elderly victims thought he was checking on their wellbeing.
Really, these two women were at Hanney's mercy.
They were completely vulnerable as they thought they were in a safe environment when attacked.
To Calvary's credit they didn't try and cover up these crimes.
They were honest and open about it, and have since tightened up their security arrangements.
As well, to be fair, who on earth would have thought such an offence would occur in a hospital?
Hanney's only defence was that he was drunk at the time and he had no recollection of the incidents.
He was given a 25 percent sentence discount for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity, and the judge accepted he was remorseful.
But is that good enough?
What must the victims and their families feel?
These acts were despicable in the extreme, yet the judge ruled they were only in the mid range of seriousness.
Hanney was a former cleaner at the hospital.
He illegally entered the building and then passed himself off as a doctor before attacking the women in such a disgusting manner.
The headline on the front page of this newspaper last Tuesday read "Calvary monster free by 2016".
It would appear the judge would disagree with that, but perhaps the victims don't.