Nurse pleads guilty to abuse of Manhattanville patient

Nanic Aidasani’s guilty plea to sexually abusing a disabled senior citizen in his care came quietly on Feb. 25. There was “sexual contact, but no specifics” on what Mr. Aidasani had done to a more than 60-year-old woman at Manhattanville Health Care Center on West 231st Street, a spokeswoman for the Bronx District Attorney explained after the trial.

What authorities wanted him for was rape.

Instead, Mr. Aidasani struck a deal that will put him in jail for six months for a second-degree felony of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person and a second-degree misdemeanor of sexual contact with a person incapable of consent. He will be stripped of his nursing license and subject to deportation once he gets out of jail.

Mr. Aidasani’s seventh appearance in court came just over a year after a Manhattanville supervisor caught the certified nurse assistant “moving his body in a back and forth motion” over the victim, who suffers from dementia and global aphasia.

At previous hearings, dozens of outraged community members gathered outside the Bronx Criminal Court to show their support for the woman. Bronx state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. sought to champion her cause.

On Nov. 19, he held a press conference to support the victim’s family after the case was delayed to allow the Bronx DA to prepare evidence to supplement the results of a rape kit and to assess whether Mr. Aidasani was mentally fit to stand trial.

Whether out of disappointment or fatigue, few of the voices that had prosecuted Mr. Aidasani in the court of public opinion throughout 2014 were on hand for the plea last week.

A spokeswoman for the Bronx DA said, “maybe [the victim’s lawyers] just didn’t think they could get him for rape.”

“We did what we could based on the evidence,” the spokeswoman continued. “I can say that any plea that would be entered is done with the family’s cooperation.

“Sometimes, it helps spare the victims and families from the pain of having to testify in court,” she added.

Mr. Diaz said he was not so sure about the deal.