Man faces jail time for pretending to be a doctor to ‘find a boyfriend’
Nicholas Brett Delaney pretended to be a doctor at two Australian hospitals since May
An Australian man could face jail time after he pretended to be a doctor at two hospitals to impress male staff members and find a boyfriend.
Since May, Nicholas Brett Delaney regularly visited Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House in South Brisbane while posing as a doctor.
According to the Courier Mail, the court heard that he began pretending to be a doctor after he stole a blue children’s health lanyard from a staff-only area.
The 25-year-old then went under the name ‘Dr Nick Delaney’ and managed to convince staff to give him access to secure areas, though it’s unclear if he had access to patients.
Staff members at the hospitals only began to realise he was a fraud when they noticed he mispronounced basic medical terms.
Delaney told detectives he was trying to impress male staff in order to find a boyfriend and claimed he was too embarrassed to admit he was a fraud to his new friends.
He appeared at the Brisbane Arrest Court on Thursday (December 21) and pleaded guilty to two counts of entering a premise with intent and one of attempted fraud.
Magistrate Stuart Shearer declined to sentence Delaney because he didn’t have a lawyer and urged him to get “legal advice”.
Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital
He said: “You shouldn’t underestimate the seriousness of your offences.
“It’s hardly a trivial offence to be impersonating a doctor in a children’s hospital over an extended period of time.”
He added: “It’s hardly a trivial offence to be impersonating a doctor in a children’s hospital over an extended period of time.”
Delaney will be sentenced on January 29.