A nurse and caregiver has been arrested and charged on suspicion of raping a woman in a vegetative state, causing her to suddenly give birth.
Nathan Sutherland, 36, was finally apprehended after a DNA test identified him as the baby’s father.
The quadriplegic woman, aged 29, gave birth out of the blue on December 29, despite no one at the care facility even knowing she was pregnant.
Sutherland – a father of four – was directly responsible for caring for his victim at Hacienda Healthcare Facility.
He has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse.
Sutherland appeared in court on Wednesday and did not enter a plea to the charges laid against him.
The young woman has been in a vegetative state at the hospice in Phoenix since a near drowning in 1992.
Her baby is reportedly ‘doing well’ and is in the care of the mother’s family.
According to the victim’s family, the mother’s condition includes brain damage, a seizure disorder and psycho-motor disability.
‘She does not speak but has some ability to move her limbs, head and neck,’ the family’s attorney said in a statement.