Nursing aide sentenced for raping stroke victim

A former nursing assistant who raped a paralyzed stroke victim at a North Seattle long-term-care center last year was sentenced Friday to 8 ½ years to life in prison.

King County Superior Court Judge Julie Specter said if she had her way, she would sentence Lamin Darboe to life behind bars.

"I can't think of anything more violative than raping a helpless, paralyzed woman," Specter told Darboe. She said the case was one of the most shocking betrayals of trust she's seen in her courtroom.

"If it were up to me, I would never release you into our community," Specter said.

Darboe, 40, had entered a modified guilty plea, known as an Alford plea, to one count of second-degree rape in October. In an Alford plea, the defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges he likely would be convicted if the case went to trial.

According to charging papers, Darboe was working at Kindred Hospital in North Seattle in the summer of 2006 when he fondled and raped a now-33-year-old woman who was paralyzed and couldn't speak as the result of a stroke. The woman used an alphabet board to tell authorities about the rape, according to charging documents.

The woman attended Friday's sentencing hearing with her husband and family members.

She wrote a letter that a victim's advocate read in court. The letter said the woman had suffered a second stroke as a result of Darboe's assaults on her in the critical weeks after her initial medical crisis.

From a wheelchair, she wailed at Darboe to express her outrage and injury, and she managed to force her hand into an obscene gesture that she directed at him.

Because he's been convicted of a violent sexual assault, Darboe falls under the jurisdiction of the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board, which must agree that Darboe is not at risk of committing other sexual assaults before he can be released. At a minimum, he will be incarcerated for 8 ½ years before he is eligible to come before the review board.

He could spend up to life in prison.

Darboe's Alford plea came before the start of his second trial on the charge. His first ended in a mistrial in July after jurors couldn't agree on a verdict. King County prosecutors decided a short time later to retry him.

Prosecutors said an investigation into Darboe's employment history indicated he managed to keep his license to work in health care despite two previous allegations of rape and three claims of sexual misconduct.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com.