Convicted child killer Sharina Anne Tuzo, who wants to become a paediatric nurse, has no chance of being able to work in Bermuda, according to angry nurses who contacted The Royal Gazette yesterday.

Labour and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Robert Horton defended using tax-payers' money to fund Tuzo's studies at Bermuda College, saying Bermuda Nursing Council, which registers nurses, may approve her to work despite her conviction if it is convinced she is rehabilitated.

But nurses who called the The Royal Gazette said it would make a mockery of the nursing profession if Tuzo - who was convicted of manslaughter in 1999 for doing nothing while a five-month-old boy she was supposed to be looking after was repeatedly beaten during a ten day ordeal - was allowed to register as a nurse in Bermuda. The opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP) also said Tuzo, who is serving a six year sentence, should have been given a "reality check" by the prison authorities to dissuade her from pursuing nursing studies.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said Tuzo had been "misguided" if prison authorities, which approved her plans to study nursing, had encouraged her.

The controversy emerged on Tuesday when The Royal Gazette revealed that Tuzo has enrolled in the same nursing course as Roshea Young Lewis - the mother of five-month-old Saed Young, the baby Tuzo was convicted of killing. Tuzo's boyfriend Jermaine Pearman was jailed for 12 years for manslaughter when he pleaded guilty to beating the child.

Government agreed later to pull Tuzo from the course if Ms Young Lewis has to share any classes with her. One nurse who called The Royal Gazette yesterday said: "She would not be registered in Bermuda or anywhere else in the world. That would be totally ridiculous. "I thought Dale Butler's comments about European women were bad enough, but I just can't believe anyone would think that anyone would sanction a career for Tuzo in nursing.

"Robert Horton is talking through a hole in his head if he thinks she might be registered as a nurse.

"I would have to leave and lot of other people would leave because it would make a mockery of the profession if she was allowed to practice.

"I have spoken with nurses today and we are all horrified. Even if you a registered as a nurse in the UK, that is not enough for Bermuda - the Nursing Council do further police checks before they register you.

"The education coordinator at the Corrections Department (who approved Tuzo studying nursing) needs a slap about the head for sanctioning her to study nursing.

"It's not rocket science. Although she didn't physically kill the child, she had a responsibility to look after the child and she admitted she turned a blind eye to the abuse."

Ms Gordon-Pamplin said last night: "If she is being encouraged within the prison system to do this then she is being misdirected, but I don't know where the impetus has come from.

"Someone ought to have issued a reality check because the prejudices she will experience will be overwhelming and she's unlikely to be able to to get over that aspect and may find herself trained for an area and not be able to work. Someone should have been guiding her in the right direction.

"Nurses are certainly eminently qualified to determine whether the behaviour of a potential colleague is acceptable or not and if their comments are that they would have reluctance then they are more qualified than I to comment on this issue."The 1997 Nursing Act states that a person must be of "good character" to be accepted into the register run by Bermuda Nursing Council.

The Royal Gazette was unable to contact officials from Bermuda Nursing Council or Bermuda Nurses Association to comment

Chief Medical Officer Dr John Cann and Bermuda Hospitals Board chief executive Stephanie Reid did not return calls to find out if they thought a person convicted of manslaughter would be likely to be approved to work in Bermuda as a nurse.

BHB chief of staff Dr June Hill said: "I don't think I should be the one to comment on that as I am the chief of the medical staff.

"The medical and nursing regulations differ slightly. I have a lot of respect for the nursing profession and I would not presume to encroach on their territory."