3 Frail Female Witnesses to Receive Special Care : Trial: Measures are to ensure their testimony against a male nurse’s aide accused of sexually molesting them.

Prosecutors are making extraordinary arrangements, including hiring ambulances and medical attendants, so that three women in frail health can testify against a male nurse’s aide that they say sexually molested them while they were patients at Simi Valley Hospital.

Although doctors have said the traumatic court experience could kill one of the women, Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrice D. Koenig said it is important to prosecute Victor Sumner because he violated a position of trust. Sumner is accused of fondling the women in July on his first day as a temporary hospital employee.

“I’m very distressed about having to put (the women) through this, but there’s no other alternative because this is a very aggravated situation,” Koenig said Thursday. “I think we have an obligation to go forward with this. I’ve tried to impress it on the victims, but when you’re sick it’s kind of hard to take this.”

Sumner, 47, is charged with sexually battering two elderly women while they were institutionalized, and a third felony count of sexually penetrating a mentally retarded person with his finger. He is in custody with bail set at $25,000 and a trial date tentatively scheduled for Nov. 1.

One of the victims, a 32-year-old mentally retarded woman, has such severe medical problems she was not expected to live past 15, Koenig said. Testifying against Sumner could prove fatal to the woman because the emotional distress might trigger a seizure, the prosecutor said.

A second victim, 73, remains in the hospital in “extremely bad condition,” while the third, 72, is 5 feet, 10 inches tall but weighs only 90 pounds and is in “an extremely precarious state,” Koenig said.

The prosecutor said one or more of the women must be transported to court by ambulance. Medical attendants will be hired by the district attorney’s office for all three women during their testimony, Koenig said.

Thursday, Koenig asked the court to move Sumner’s trial to Simi Valley on the days the women will testify because “I don’t think that they can withstand the 45-minute trip” to the Ventura courthouse.

Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. said he probably will grant the request and even conduct part of the trial in the hospital if necessary.

Koenig also is researching whether a defense attorney can be appointed to cross-examine the women so the defendant, who is serving as his own lawyer, will not question the women directly in court.

The prosecutor, however, was unable to stop the defendant from contacting the women before trial. Sumner was given the victims’ home addresses as part of the defense file in the case, and Koenig renewed a request to have that information taken from the defendant.

“It’s easy to sit in a sterile courtroom and say there’s nothing to worry about (because) he’s in custody,” the prosecutor said.

But the judge said he cannot withhold the addresses from Sumner.

“Since he’s representing himself he’s the attorney in charge of the case,” Campbell said. “I believe that he has a right to that information.”