The body representing Bermuda's nurses said yesterday that Sharina Tuzo should never be allowed to practice as a nurse.

Government has offered to fund Tuzo's studies at Bermuda College so she can train to be a paediatric nurse.

Labour and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Robert Horton said earlier this week that even though Tuzo is serving a six-year sentence for the manslaughter of five-month-old Saed Young, it might not necessarily prevent her becoming a nurse.

The Nurses Act 1997 states that nurses must be of “good character,” but Mr. Horton said Bermuda Nursing Council, which registers all nurses on the Island, might still approve Tuzo if it considered she had been rehabilitated.

But yesterday, Lynn Jackson, the acting president of Bermuda Nursing Association, said: “In response to recent articles in the Royal Gazette, the Bermuda Nursing Association would like to advise the public that it does support rehabilitation, however, it does not support the contravention of the Nurses Act and it does not consider nursing an appropriate career for Ms Tuzo.

“It is concerned about the matter and has sought the advice of the Human Rights Commission.”

Ms Jackson would not elaborate on why the Nursing Association had sought advice from the Human Rights Commission.

Although Tuzo did not attack Saed, her godson, she was convicted of manslaughter because she did nothing to protect him when she knew her boyfriend Jermiane Pearman was abusing the baby.

The controversy emerged on Tuesday when The Royal Gazette revealed that Tuzo, who is still serving her sentence, had enrolled on the same Bermuda College nursing course as Sead's mother Roshea Young Lewis.

In response to the outcry, Government, which approved Tuzo's studies and is paying for them, said it would withdraw the prisoner from the course if it meant she would have to share classes with Ms Young Lewis.

Labour and Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister has asked for a report from Prisons Commissioner John Prescod to find out what steps were taken to ensure the two young women did not meet at college.