Tribunal cancels registration of nurse after criminal convictions

28 Apr 2021

A tribunal has ordered that a nurse’s registration be cancelled after criminal convictions concerning child abuse material.  

Between 2017 and 2018, Mr Edgard Ramirez (a registered nurse) imported, accessed and distributed child pornography. The offending was discovered in November 2018 at Melbourne International Airport, when authorities conducted a search of Mr Ramirez’s baggage and found child abuse material on his devices. 

On 27 February 2020, Mr Ramirez pleaded guilty and was convicted of three charges in the County Court of Victoria, sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life. 

Mr Ramirez made a self-notification of the charges to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) in December 2018 and the NMBA subsequently suspended his registration and referred him to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (tribunal). 

On 12 March 2021, the tribunal found that Mr Ramirez’s behaviour constituted professional misconduct and ordered that he:

• be reprimanded
• have his registration as a health practitioner cancelled, and
• be prohibited for five years from engaging in employment in any health service where he has access to or contact with any child. 

The tribunal stated that had Mr Ramirez not already been out of practice for a considerable amount of time, it would have made a substantially longer prohibition order. The tribunal also noted that it was likely that Mr Ramirez would be deported to the Philippines once he had completed his prison sentence.

The tribunal’s decision was published on the Austlii website on 12 March 2021.