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Allegations of Sexual Abuse
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Further indecency charges have been
laid against a New Plymouth doctor already facing 15 counts of indecent
assault and sexual violation. The doctor, whose name is
suppressed, appeared in the New Plymouth District Court in February after the
multiple charges, pertaining to complaints from five of his patients, arose
from an initial investigation in 2003. Last week seven more charges of
indecent assault and one of sexual violation were laid from four new
complainants, all patients of his between 1983 and 2002. One of the complainants had
allegedly been assaulted or violated on five separate occasions over a period
of seven years. The new charges are alleged to
have stemmed from improper conduct by the doctor while examining the
complainants' breasts and genitals. The doctor's lawyer, Harry
Waalkens QC, of Auckland, assured the court in February that the charges
would be vigorously defended. Judge Louis Bidois initially
suppressed all details about the defendant, but after a legal challenge from
police and the Taranaki Daily News he decided it was in the public interest
to allow publication of the man's profession. Judge Bidois ruled that the
doctor's name continue to be suppressed under the condition that if he was
asked directly if he was the doctor involved, he must say so. The doctor is due to appear in the
New Plymouth District Court for a pre-depositions hearing on May 10. |
