A 30-year old former nurse named Kelvin Ramasta has been sentenced to four years and six months of imprisonment after stealing vast amounts of money amounting to more than £100,000 from elderly and vulnerable patients while he was working at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, according to the reports of the police. The spokesperson of Cambridge University Hospitals issued a statement acknowledging the impact of the nurse’s acts of stealing on the victims and their families and apologised wholeheartedly for the disgraceful crime that is inexcusable and unacceptable.
Bank officials reported suspicious activities on Ramasta’s account, which raised red flags signifying the transfer of £102,000 from another man to Ramasta at the rate of £1000 per day over three months, leading authorities to scrutinise the ex-nurse further. Further investigations revealed that Ramasta had opened a bank account in the name of a 76-year old man for whom he gave care at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in his capacity as a nurse. The elderly patient was oblivious to what was going on around him at the time, later diagnosed with dementia, and his fingerprints matched those used to open Ramasta’s own account.
The police disclosed that other patients at Addenbrooke’s Hospital also reported several thefts, ranging from bank cards to missing cheques belonging to a 74-year old woman with Alzheimer’s, adding to the extensive list of Ramasta’s hideous crimes. Unfortunately, the victim passed away a week after she was discharged from the hospital, and the items were later reported by her daughter. Despite Ramasta’s suspension from work, he tried to cash in one cheque, with a forged signature of the woman spelt her surname incorrectly, while she was confined to her bed, with multiple organ failure, unable to hold a pen.
On 4 May 2022, the nurse was arrested and later on admitted to the charges filed against him for Terry counts of theft, though Ramasta initially denied the allegations. The police were contacted by a third victim, an 85-year old woman, who was proven vulnerable and lacking mental capacity, after her bank cards were stolen from her purse and used eleven times between 18 April to 26 April, and the card was used to spend a total of £203.29 during the time frame. Upon investigation by her family, the woman was on the same ward as Ramasta’s second victim at the time of the crime.
Det Con Mark Andrews, who worked on the case, described the extent of Ramasta’s abuse, targeting vulnerable patients in his care and his violation of the trust put in his profession as a nurse. The nurse’s actions caused immense harm and emerged as nothing short of horrific, with devastating impacts on his victims and their families. Additionally, the daughter of Ramasta’s third victim expressed disappointment with the hospital staff and lost faith in them, adding to the emotional burden of the families involved
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