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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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A Jekyll and Hyde figure is one
description fitting for the New Plymouth doctor charged with sex offences,
according to the Crown. It was standing room only in the
High Court at New Plymouth yesterday with both the Crown and the defence
giving their closing addresses in the fifth week of the high-profile trial.
The public gallery was packed with the doctor's supporters and family members.
Today Justice Priestley will sum
up, before the jury considers its verdicts. Crown prosecutor Cherie Clarke
told the jury the trial was about an otherwise good man doing bad things. The doctor, whose identity is
suppressed, faces 37 charges of sexual assault on 12 female patients alleged
to have occurred between 1981 and 2002. "Under the auspices of a
medical examination, this man treated these women in a sexual way for his own
sexual gratification," Ms Clarke said. She said confirmation that he was
doing it for his own gratification was the allegation by two of the
complainants that he had an erect penis during consultations. He could not have had an erection
for any other reason, she said. Ms Clarke said that every
complainant had given evidence that at the time the doctor touched them, they
knew it was wrong. The 12 women came from different
backgrounds, had made similar complaints about the accused and had given
their frank, sincere and true evidence independently, she said. Ms Clarke said there was no
evidence of any collusion in the case. "I ask you, members of the
jury, to compare the complainants' demeanour to the accused. He was that
Jekyll and Hyde character, he was evasive, non-committal, he blatantly misled
you about issues and clearly lied to you about things in this case." She told the jury that it could
rely on the evidence of the 12 women. "There is only one verdict in
this, it's your duty to bring in verdicts of guilty." Defence counsel Susan Hughes told
the jury that she would not be there if she did not believe the doctor. However, she admitted that numbers
could be seductive. "But 12 times nothing is
nothing," Ms Hughes said. Colleagues, family, friends and
former patients had all described the doctor's good character. "Is this man likely to act as
a sexual predator? No." She questioned why most of the
women continued to see the doctor after they claim he sexually abused them. "In one case there have been
50 visits post assault . . . because you logically wouldn't return to a
doctor who had sexually abused you, would you?" The doctor denied ever having an
erection during consultations, Ms Hughes said. She said the lack of any
complaints, sometimes not for years after the claims of abuse, was central to
the case and said even then some complainants did not come forward until
after media coverage of a New Plymouth doctor being charged. A Chinese whispers-type situation
had evolved, where a claim of someone not liking the doctor had suddenly
become sexual offending, Ms Hughes said. "To sincerely believe
something, doesn't mean it is so. The complainants sincerely believe that
they have been sexually abused by the doctor. I simply say that is not
true." She urged the jury to quickly find
the doctor not guilty. |
