.svg)
A former Scottish NHS healthcare support worker has been sentenced to 20 months in prison after carrying out a predatory sexual assault against a teenage psychiatric patient under his direct observation at a Glasgow hospital. Adam Mushtaq, 28, a British national residing in Croftfoot, Glasgow, appeared before Sheriff Joan Kerr at Glasgow Sheriff Court, where he was convicted following a contested trial. Alongside his custodial term, Mushtaq was placed on the sex offenders register for a period of ten years and made subject to a four-year non-harassment order barring him from making any contact with the young woman.
The conviction stems from an incident on 25 January 2024, when an 18-year-old woman was admitted to the Glasgow medical facility following an attempt to end her own life. Because of her heightened vulnerability, hospital protocols required constant one-to-one observation, a duty specifically entrusted to Mushtaq. Rather than maintaining the clinical boundaries mandated by his position, Mushtaq remained with the patient until the completion of her discharge documentation.
Daily Dazzling Dawn learned that Mushtaq deliberately isolated the victim by accompanying her into a restricted staff lift rather than a public transit area. Once the lift doors shut, Mushtaq seized the opportunity to carry out the assault, kissing the teenager and attempting to pull up her jumper. He subsequently escorted her out of the facility and placed her into a taxi, but continued the unwanted pursuit by connecting with her personal Facebook account and sending direct text messages, one of which read: "Have a good sleep beautiful xx".
During court proceedings, defence solicitor Amy Hunter presented an argument asserting that Mushtaq had merely been seated next to the complainant playing the video game Grand Theft Auto on his mobile phone and denied any unlawful physical contact. The victim forcefully refuted the claims on the witness stand, explaining that any device usage had been "just for show" and dismissing his denials. Sheriff Kerr concluded that Mushtaq had committed a grave breach of professional trust, exploiting a vulnerable woman who had been placed entirely under his protection.
Official records confirmed that Mushtaq was dismissed from his healthcare post immediately following the allegations and subsequently found work within the hospitality trade. Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that criminal justice social work background reports described the act as opportunistically driven, though Sheriff Kerr noted that only a significant period of imprisonment could properly reflect the profound betrayal of clinical responsibility.
The conviction formed part of a comprehensive docket of significant regional proceedings across west-central Scotland. At Hamilton Sheriff Court, 28-year-old Connor Anderson received a custodial sentence after carrying out violent domestic assaults against his partner inside a Motherwell tower block. The court heard Anderson repeatedly punched and kicked the victim, tore a television set from the wall, and hurled both the appliance and her mobile telephone out of a twelfth-floor window to prevent emergency contact.
In a separate matter at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Ross Ritchie was handed an 18-month term of imprisonment for systematic domestic intimidation. Prosecutors established that Ritchie flouted restrictive bail conditions, issued threatening communications, and claimed an associate was stationed outside the woman’s residence in an automobile to physically confront any visitors.
Meanwhile, at Airdrie Sheriff Court, Cameron Thomson, 22, the leader of an online vigilante paedophile-hunting group, received a two-year Community Payback Order and 300 hours of unpaid work after wrongly targeting an innocent member of the public in a catastrophic case of mistaken identity, which forced the victim to abandon his residence permanently.
