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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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A Jekyll and Hyde figure is one
description for the New Plymouth doctor charged with sex offences, the crown
told a court yesterday. It was standing room only in the
High Court at New Plymouth with both the crown and the defence giving their
closing addresses in what is now the fifth week of the high profile trial.
The public gallery was packed with the doctor's supporters and family
members. Today Justice John Priestley will
sum up, before the jury retires to deliberate their 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. 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. |
