Male nurse charged with raping three elderly women faces court

Jeremy David Pearce, 42, was charged with the rape of three elderly women while working as a nurse at Brisbane's Greenslopes Private Hospital between 2020 and 2024.

The court heard that one of the complainants has since died.

The part-heard committal hearing was adjourned until January, and Mr Pearce remains on bail.

An elderly woman allegedly raped by a nurse at hospital in Brisbane's south has since died, a court has heard.

She is one of three elderly women that 42-year-old Jeremy David Pearce is accused of raping between 2020 and 2024. It is not alleged that her death was connected with the alleged incident over which Mr Pearce has been charged.

Mr Pearce was arrested in the south-west suburb of Riverhills on November 5, 2025, and charged with two counts of rape for assaults that allegedly occurred at Greenslopes Private Hospital in 2020 and 2024.

At the time, police urged anyone with information or interactions of a similar nature to come forward.

The court heard Mr Pearce was then given an additional rape charge, for an offence that occurred sometime in 2021.

On Monday, his committal hearing in the Brisbane Magistrates Court commenced.

At the outset of the hearing, the court heard one of the elderly victims had died.

Prosecutor Patrick Bates told the court that the committal hearing should continue today, noting the age and the emotional toll of the court proceedings of the other complainants.

Mr Pearce was placed behind a privacy screen, shielding him from the two surviving complainants as they were cross-examined in closed court.

When court reopened, several of Mr Pearce's colleagues were cross-examined about events surrounding some of the alleged offending at the private hospital.

The court heard one complainant was "shocked" and "upset" and had some trouble recounting the alleged incident.

Earlier in the hearing, the court also heard that a complaint about Mr Pearce was investigated by the hospital in 2020.

"That matter did not proceed as a police complaint at that time, that matter was investigated internally by the hospital and the matter was dismissed, or unsubstantiated," defence barrister Kim Bryson told the court.

"It was only in 2025, some five years later, that police made contact with [the complainant]."