WA guard who molested teen patient jailed

A former hospital security guard who sexually assaulted a 15-year-old patient with mental health issues has been jailed in Western Australia for four years and six months.

Shaun David Fairfield was working at Peel Health Campus in May 2014 when he took the teenage patient for a walk outside and indecently dealt with and sexually penetrated her.

He also started a sexual conversation earlier in the evening and showed the girl, who had been admitted after self-harming, a photograph of his genitals that he took in the toilets of the hospital.

District Court of WA Judge Michael Bowden said an element of grooming occurred on the night and Fairfield, then aged 35, also deliberately took the girl to an area not covered by CCTV.

"You did in fact initiate the sexual banter, you did in fact take her outside," Judge Bowden said in sentencing on Friday.

"The only inference I can draw I think is that you were in fact attracted to the victim."

Judge Bowden said no force, threats or promises were used, but Fairfield befriended a vulnerable victim and took advantage of her from his position of trust.

"You knew that the victim was a child, you knew that the victim was vulnerable," he said.

"Members of the public are entitled to resort to a hospital, particularly children, without the fear that they're ... going to be the subject of sexual assaults by hospital employees."

Fairfield will be eligible for parole after serving two-and-a-half years behind bars.