Care worker, 59, rapes grandmother-of-eight after wheeling her disabled husband out of the room
A grandmother-of-eight was raped in her bed by her husband's care worker, who wheeled the disabled man out of the room and licked his fingers before he committed the despicable act.
Simon Prodanovich, 59, from Springvale, Melbourne, had been in the aged-care business for a little over a year when he was hired by the daughters of the 83-year-old victim to care for her ailing husband, according to the Daily Mail.
On January 12, he entered the couple's Mount Waverley home and gave the victim's husband a sponge bath before turning his attention to the grandmother and offered to massage her legs. He told her she didn't need any medication and proceeded to wheel the husband to the lounge.
When he was alone with her, he started the massage, though things quickly took a turn for the worse. He reportedly started licking his fingers and then raping his terrified victim, ignoring all her calls to stop.
He fled the scene afterward, and when later questioned by the police, denied all the allegations, claiming they were "fabricated" and "totally false." He also said she made the allegations up as "revenge" for him refusing to rub lotion on her and that he was "gobsmacked" a woman of her age would slander him.
Prodavonich continued to deny any wrongdoing until DNA evidence proved that he had raped the grandmother, following which he said he could not explain his actions, telling a psychiatrist he had suffered a "brain fade."
In a victim impact statement read out by the 83-year-old's daughters at the County Court of Victoria, the elderly woman said she was "fooled and betrayed" by Prodanovich's actions and that they had left her fearing all men, including nurses and doctors.
The daughters said their mom was a strong, sociable, and independent woman before the attack and that it had left her struggling to care for her husband, who had to be placed in respite care.
"Mum must now live with this brutal and merciless touch," they said.
County Court Judge Susan Pullen did not hold back on how she felt about Prodanovich's actions. "Your own expert described it as despicable," she said. "It's downright grubby ... What we're dealing with here is absolutely appalling. It's effectively wrecked her."
The 59-year-old pleaded guilty to rape and is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, October 24. He faces up to 25 years in prison.