AMBULANCE 'SEX ATTACK' Woman ‘sexually assaulted and choked by paramedic in the back of his ambulance’

A PARAMEDIC chocked a woman as he sexually assaulted her in the back of an ambulance, a jury has heard.

The 24-year-old said she briefly blacked out during the alleged assault in County Clare, Ireland.

ALAMY

A court heard that a woman was sexually assaulted in the back of an ambulance

The defendant has denied sexual assault on a date unknown between March 17 and April 14 2010, a date unknown between May 1 and 31 the same year, and on February 10, 2013.

Ennis Circuit Court heard the alleged victim had wanted to be a paramedic.

She was 17 when after a school first aid class the accused allegedly told her she must undergo a medical check to get into the Civil Defence – a voluntary group that supports the emergency services.

The victim told the court the defendant took her into a disabled toilet and sexually assaulted her.

She added: “I was young and naive and I trusted him. He was a professional and I was shocked and I was confused.”

The woman said on a later occasion, the man had driven the ambulance to a forested area — telling her he wanted to try out a manoeuvre.

She said: “After a while I gave in because he was the person in charge and he was the one in authority and he told me, ‘You should do what paramedics tell you’.”

The woman said that after blacking out from the choking she felt very weak and he put her on a trolley in the vehicle.

She told the court he assaulted her there and “was full of rage and anger”.

The trial continues.