A TRIBUNAL will decide if a man convicted of an armed robbery at Point Cook, during which staff were tied up and held at knifepoint, will be allowed to continue practising as a nurse.
Henry Santos Dizon, 40, was released from jail on parole last October after serving 2½ years for the armed robbery of a Target store in Point Cook.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board has since referred a professional misconduct allegation to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, where Dizon appeared on May 3.
When he reappears in October, the tribunal will reveal whether his criminal behaviour has affected his ability to practise as a nurse.
Dizon, of Avondale Heights, and two co-offenders were convicted after threatening the store’s managers with knives and demanding they take them to the store’s safe as they were closing up in April 2010.
The men tied up one of the manager’s feet and hands and put a pillow case over his head while the other’s hands were bound with cable ties and her feet tied with clothing.
The three men escaped with more than $28,000 in cash and more than $3000 worth of iPods.
Dizon pleaded guilty to armed robbery, theft and possession of crystal methamphetamine.
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency spokeswoman Nicole Newton said Dizon’s registration as a nurse had been suspended since May 26, 2010. He remains suspended pending the outcome of the tribunal proceeding.
Ms Newton said the board had clear registration standards for its 560,000 members.
“Everyone who’s registered in the national scheme must meet certain registration standards, and one relates to criminal history,” she said.
The professional standards for nursing include an objective that nurses “maintain and build on the community trust and confidence” in them, given their critical role in supporting the health and well-being of others.
In August last year, 47-year-old Melbourne man Jose Quiroga was deregistered as a nurse and prohibited from reapplying for seven years after being convicted for a leading role in a conspiracy to import cocaine from South America.
