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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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Two women yesterday described the
fear and violation they felt during consultations they had with the New
Plymouth doctor on trial for multiple sex offences. Both women were in their teens
when they visited the doctor in the early 1980s. While giving evidence separately
in the High Court at New Plymouth on the second day of the trial yesterday,
the women both described to the jury how the doctor had stroked their breasts
and touched their genitals in a way that made them feel uncomfortable. One of the women said she felt
violated, while the other described feeling scared. The women are among 12
complainants, all former patients of the doctor, who will give evidence
during the four week trial. The doctor has been charged with
37 counts of sexual assaults, spanning about 20 years, against the 12 women. The doctor, who cannot be
identified, has denied all the charges. The first woman to appear told the
jury there were two occasions when she visited the doctor and felt
uncomfortable. Both consultations were a result
of having vaginal thrush when she was 17. During questioning by Crown
prosecutor Justin Marinovich, the woman said on both visits the doctor asked
her to remove all her clothes while he remained in the room. She then lay on
the examination table without a cover. On her second consultation, a
check-up to see if medicine the doctor had prescribed for her had worked, he
pulled her close to him after she had undressed but was still standing, she
said. The woman said he then pushed against
her breast, talked about giving her a breast examination and told her to lie
down. She told Mr Marinovich the doctor
"groped and squeezed" her breasts with his right hand and touched
her genitals with his left hand. "It was not a comfortable
feeling. He started asking me questions, one of the first ones was, was I
sexually active? Then he paused, still looking at my face. I kept looking
away because I was uncomfortable, but I would look back when he asked me
questions," the woman said. She said he then asked her whether
she experienced orgasms and for how long. The woman told the court the
internal examination was painful and she was sore for some time afterwards. Defence counsel Harry Waalkens QC
said the complainant's medical notes showed a cervical smear was performed,
yet she had no recollection of it taking place. Mr Waalkens asked the woman why
she did not immediately tell her family about what had happened or change
doctors. He put to her that all the jury
had to rely on was her memory of events. "Can I again suggest to you
that you were very confused about what happened in these consultations. Can I
suggest that what has happened, you have played over in your mind in the 20
or so years since it's happened," Mr Waalkens said. The second complainant visited the
accused doctor as a 17-year-old in 1984 when she thought she was pregnant. During questioning by Crown
prosecutor Cherie Clarke, the complainant said that while she brought a urine
sample with her, it was not until the end of the consultation the doctor told
her it was negative and she was not pregnant. "He asked me questions about
why I thought I was pregnant and he said he wanted to do some examinations
and to take my top and bra off because he wanted to do a breast examination,"
she said. The woman lay on the examination
table and said that while she had had a breast examination before from
another doctor, this time was different. "He used soft strokes on my
breasts in no particular direction and he used his thumb and forefinger to
rub my nipples." While this was happening she could
feel his erect penis against her arm. Later during the consultation the
doctor asked her to remove all her clothing and he touched her genitals in a
way she was not comfortable with. "I was thinking so many
things. I felt very exposed and I wanted to get the hell out of there and I
was immobilised, I was lying there and allowing this to happen . . . in my
head I was screaming." She told the court the doctor then
got her to stand and again touched her genitals, at the same time she could
feel his erection on her side. It was the woman's second visit to
the doctor, she had seen him as a 15-year-old when she was pregnant and had
started to bleed. On that occasion he also gave her
a breast examination and an internal examination. She said that visit had
left her feeling "yucky and scared". The woman said she had buried the
first visit in the back of her mind. "I had been raised to respect
doctors and you don't question them." The woman will be cross-examined
by Mr Waalkens today. |
