A FORMER nurse who worked at St Mary's orthopaedic hospital in Cork was fined €3,000 yesterday after he admitted stealing quantities of drugs from a medical store at the hospital and forging the signatures of other medical staff.
Wilson Abel (30), a native of India but with an address at Apartment 1, Rossan, The Headlands, Wilton, Cork, pleaded guilty to 12 sample counts of theft and a further 12 sample counts of forgery between February 1st, 2007, and July 16th, 2007.
Judge Con O'Leary was told at Cork District Court that the theft of medical drugs was unusual, and that Abel had co-operated fully with gardaí when they began investigating over 300 thefts of an opiate drug that is used on patients undergoing hip and knee surgery.