by Scared, crumpled and crying with fear, Rivkah Grant sat in her hospital room grappling with the fact that she had been sexually assaulted by a male healthcare assistant.
That experience, in a mental health hospital that was meant to keep her safe, would scar her to the core, leaving her fearful and distrustful of mental health services for the rest of her life.
Now 34, Rivkah is able to describe in detail how she was abused at the hands of NHS worker Krishna Jaganaikloo during her time at Chase Farm Hospital in north London.
In January 2016, she was admitted to a women’s only mental health ward after experiencing severe depression and anxiety.
Remembering her first impressions, she said The Independent: “The ward was very chaotic. Apparently there was no staff around. I was kind of left to my own devices and wasn’t really checking. It was a scary atmosphere.
“There was one member of staff I met on the third night. He seemed very nice and supportive, and he was really the only person who was interested in how I was.”
This male staff member – Jaganaikloo – was allowed to be alone with Rivkah in her room for long periods, she said.
“I didn’t realize at the time that it was a bad thing that he was in my room, when I was alone at night with the door closed.”
One evening, he sexually assaulted Rivkah in her room. After he left, Rivkah remembers sitting in tears and trying to tell a staff member what happened.
“I said, ‘I have to tell you something’. And she said to me, ‘Just go to bed’. I’m crying and obviously I have to explain something. But instead, I was shut down.”
The next morning, Rivkah claims she tried to tell someone else who worked in the unit. But she was told there were no permanent staff members on duty, so she would have to wait until the next day.
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‘I’d rather kill myself than be in a ward’
Her ordeal was made worse when she was told she would have to return to the room where she had been attacked, as there were no other beds.
“So, I stayed another night in that room and I remember just sitting there in sadness – I didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Rivkah.
Two days later she was transferred to Edgware Hospital, where she was placed in a same-sex ward, which had been considered illegal more than a decade earlier. Despite the government banning them in 2012, mixed wards are still used within mental health care.
Rivkah found herself on a ward with male patients “everywhere”.
She said: “The fear was indescribable, I was just sitting there thinking: ‘What would happen?’. There was no escape. There was this constant fear that something would happen.”
Rivkah turned to a friend who called the hospital and complained. They, in turn, contacted the police, and Jaganaikloo was suspended. He was convicted in June 2017 of one count of sexual assault and jailed for three and a half years.
Rivkah also settled a negligence claim with Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust, now known as the North London Mental Health Partnership, in May 2019. He said he was “deeply sorry” for what had happened to Rivkah.
The trust said it has since strengthened its safeguarding process, including a requirement that all patients have a member of staff of the same sex during face-to-face observations. The trust still has six mixed wards out of a total of 17, although it claims there are single-sex areas within these units.
Describing the toll on her mental health, Rivkah said: “I felt even more suicidal than I had before.
“You believe that when you’re in hospital, you should be safe. You would never think at that point that you would be unsafe. I learned that there is no safety in hospitals, in mental health hospitals.”
Rivkah’s traumatic story is one of many that emerged during a joint investigation by The Independent and Sky News, which found thousands of similar complaints made in NHS-run mental health units in just five years.
The 18-month investigation was inspired by the extraordinary story of Alexis Quinn, a former swimmer from Great Britain, who managed to escape from a mental health hospital after allegedly being sexually assaulted twice. Her story is revealed exclusively in a podcast, Patient 11.
In December 2013, Alexis says she was admitted to an all-male mental health ward because there were no beds for women. Within hours she says she was sexually assaulted by a male patient.
Her ordeal continued in the following months after she was admitted to a mixed-sex ward and assaulted again, she claims. These horrific experiences sparked a dramatic four-year battle that would force her to escape from the unit where she was held under arrest and eventually flee the country.
But because The Independent as Sky News revealed, there were many more women like Alexis and Rivkah.
In 2015, a desperate Stephanie Tutty opened the fire door in her ward, running towards the exit of the Essex mental health unit where she was locked up for five months.
Aged 19, she sought asylum in a hospital to treat the trauma of being raped the previous year. Instead, she says, she suffered horrific sexual abuse from a “predatory” staff member she trusted.
Now a mother of two, and studying for a degree in criminology, she is sharing her story for the first time, recalling the events that took place after she was admitted to Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust in 2015.
“What happened to [the abuser] it will always have a lasting effect on me, even more so than the first rape that made me sick in the first place. He is a predator. There is no other word for it,” she said The Independent.
Stephanie passed away in 2014 and became ill. After attempts to take her own life, she was amputated and admitted to hospital.
After being admitted, she claims her abuser began grooming her.
She says he outdid himself by bringing her banned items such as energy drinks and alcohol. “He told me he was the only one [staff] a member that I believed in… I was so dependent on him,” said Stephanie.
She claims that, gradually, his actions escalated and he began to make sexual advances and “hold on to her”. This then progressed, she says, to more physical contact and finally to months of horrific sexual abuse that Stephanie claims left her with personal injuries.
“I was doing [sexual acts] because I really felt that he cares for me, and that there are strong feelings involved,” she said. “But I was very sick. I was just uncomfortable with everything. I was too far into it to do anything about it. I remember crying but I never remember saying no. It took me a long time to get over it but I never got over it.”
These attacks were able to happen because the staff member was allowed to be alone with Stephanie in her room, she said The Independent.
Desperate to get away from him, Stephanie began trying to flee the unit and succeeded once, only to be returned by the police.
Eventually, her mental health deteriorated to such an extent that she was transferred to another acute care unit. She says the abuse stopped only then.
Months later, after she was discharged, she ran into the man outside the hospital, which she says prompted her to report him.
Police investigated Stephanie’s claims for two years. However, she then received a devastating letter saying there was “insufficient evidence” to submit a file to the Crown Prosecution Service. The letter continued: “This does not mean that you are not believed. In order to prosecute, however, there must be sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of prosecution.”
Said her mother, who took time off work to support her daughter The Independent: “The effect it’s had on my Steph… my God, it’s completely ruined her life. The things that they are [the hospital] who – not only them, but mental health services in general – have done for my family, my life, my daughter’s life and my partner’s life, I could write an autobiography. Five years of hell we went through.”
Stephanie wrote to the hospital in December 2017, regarding a complaint about the alleged abuse she witnessed The Independent. Despite acknowledging her complaint, the trust never confirmed whether they would investigate.
The Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust, which is facing a public inquiry, declined to comment specifically on Stephanie’s allegations but said “reports like this are immediately passed on to our safeguarding team, fully investigated and action taken”.
An Essex Police spokesman said: “We carried out a thorough investigation following allegations of sexual assault. At the end of the investigation, we found enough evidence to support a charge. However, no case is closed and, as with any case, if any new information comes to light, the case will be reviewed.”
An NHS spokesman said: “Sexual assault is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the NHS – we are taking action to ensure the safety of patients and staff, including rolling out better reporting mechanisms, training and support as part of the new Sexual Safety Charter NHS.
“NHS England advised all Trusts and local health systems to establish a domestic abuse and sexual violence guide to support patients and staff to report incidents and access support, with more than 300 now in force.”
If you need to seek support for anything sexual that has happened to you without your consent you can call Rape Crisis on 0808 500 222224 hours a day, every day of the week
