IQALUIT - A male nurse was sentenced March 21 to three months behind bars for sexually assaulting a female patient.

Raymond Labrecque, 51, of Iqaluit pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault earlier this month.

The court heard Labrecque, a registered nurse at Qikiqtani General Hospital at the time of the incident last June, touched the genital area and kissed the breasts of a female patient. He repeated the act the following day, court heard.

Labrecque had no criminal record but lost his nursing licence for two months in 2003 after he was disciplined for sexually inappropriate behaviour with a patient in Quebec.

The Crown had asked for a sentence of nine to 12 months, while the defence asked for a suspended sentence with probation.

Labrecque, a married father of four and a grandfather to two, has worked as a nurse for 23 years in various locations across the country. He had been working as a registered nurse at the Iqaluit hospital since 2004 before being suspended when the incident surfaced this past June.

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