
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990                   TAG: 9003162853
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                                 LENGTH: Short

MALE NURSE GETS 7 YEARS FOR RAPE OF COMATOSE WOMAN

A Circuit Court jury has set the sentence for a male nurse convicted of raping a comatose patient at seven years in prison.

David J. Diraimondo, 29, was found guilty Thursday of the Dec. 24, 1988, rape of the patient in the Maryview Medical Center. No sentencing date has been set. The maximum penalty for rape is life in prison; the minimum, five years. Diraimondo remained free on bail of $10,000.

Maryview nurses testified they found the patient in a disheveled state shortly after Diraimondo visited her room. A Portsmouth police officer testified Diraimondo told him he "must have had" sex with the victim.

The defense contended Diraimondo was coerced into the admission, which he later retracted.

Various expert witnesses gave apparent conflicting testimony. One testified that seminal fluids found in the victim were not Diraimondo's.

DNA testing indicated that a stain found on Diraimondo's underwear could have been caused by fluid from the victim.

by CNB