A man convicted of masturbating in front of a health technician and sexually assaulting her has been sentenced to 30 months in jail.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Gomery ruled in a Sept. 23, 2024, decision released May 9 that John Field, now 61, sexually assaulted R.L. at St. Paul's Hospital Feb. 11, 2023.
Gomery further said Field performed an indecent act in a public place by openly masturbating in R.L.'s presence.
Gomery said R.L. is a medical technician who was attending to Field's medical needs by conducting an electrocardiogram or ECG.
The judge said Field has a long criminal record.
He said that, on application by Crown prosecutor Thomas Cullen, Field was remanded for psychiatric assessment in contemplation of a possible application that he be designated a dangerous or long‑term offender.
The Crown decided not to pursue such an application after receipt of the assessor's report, according to the ruling.
Field’s pre-sentence time in custody was 546 days. With credit at a rate of 1.5 to one, the total credit is 26 months and 29 days. As such, Field will serve a further three months and one day in custody. Field will be on probation for 24 months.
In addition to other orders, Field must take counselling for anger management, violence prevention, alcohol or drug addiction, mental health and sexual offence prevention.
What happened
Field was taken to hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night, complaining of dizziness, sweating, panic, and that his heart was racing, according to court documents.
Arrangements were made for an ECG to be conducted by R.L. in an examination room.
The judge said Field's interaction with R.L. lasted approximately four minutes in total. In the room, he laid on a bed with leads affected to his bare chest and she stood beside him holding wires attaching the leads to the ECG machine.
“While she stood there, Mr. Field spoke to R.L. and began to masturbate, exposing his penis. He asked her if she was single, told her that she was hot, and said that if she was single, he wanted to f*** her.”
Gomery said Field put out his hand, grabbed her on the left side slightly under the hip bone, and held on for at least five seconds.
“R.L. obtained the ECG reading she required and told Mr. Field to leave the room and take a seat in the hall. He did so,” Gomery wrote.
Victim impacts
The woman described the incident as “a horrifying experience that has fundamentally altered her perspective on her career. She says that she has lost her feeling that she is safe in her workplace. She finds herself in a constant state of hypervigilance and incapable of trusting male patients. She also suffers from panic attacks, according to the ruling.
“Her job performance has suffered and that makes her anxious, ‘as I work in a health-care facility where timely access to care matters,’” Gomery said.
She said she became withdrawn and socially isolated after the incident.
“She spent less time with her family and was unable to give her daughters the full care and attention they deserved,” Gomery wrote. “She describes herself as a prisoner of her own paranoia, constantly worrying about the safety of her daughters.”
Field’s background
Gomery said Field was convicted of criminal offences as a young offender and has an adult criminal history dating back to 1980 when he was 17 years old.
His criminal record includes convictions for sexual assault in 1989 and 2020; assault causing bodily harm in 2008; robbery in 1980, 2000, 2005, and 2020; armed robbery in 1981; other assaults in 1981, 1983, 1988, and 1993; forcible confinement; and various driving and property offences.
“He has completed five separate terms of incarceration in a federal penitentiary,” Gomery said.
Field suffered a fractured skull and a traumatic brain injury at the hands of his father when he was two years old and spent most of his childhood in foster care, according to court documents. He was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at age eight.
“His schooling ended in his late teens at the Grade 9 level, though academic testing in 1982 showed him at a Grade 6 level,” Gomery said.
The judge said a 1983 psychological assessment described Field as a "highly institutionalized young man" who was "unable to develop meaningful relationships." And, he said, Field has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse beginning in his teens.
“While he has not been convicted of drug offences, drug and alcohol use feature prominently in the circumstances leading to many of his convictions,” Gomery said. “The medical episode that brought Mr. Field to St. Paul's Hospital in the early hours of the morning on Feb. 11, 2023, followed from his relapse into drug use following five months of sobriety.”
The sentence proposals
The Crown sought a sentence of three years less credit for time served for the sexual assault, and a concurrent sentence of 18 months for the indecent act.
“This would result in a sentence requiring Mr. Field to serve approximately nine more months in custody,” Gomery said.
The defence proposed a sentence for the sexual assault equal to the credit for time served, and a concurrent sentence of nine months for the indecent act, meaning Field would have been released immediately. Defence also suggested 18 months' probation.
