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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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There were emotional scenes at New
Plymouth High Court on Thursday afternoon as a doctor was found guilty of 26
counts of sexual assault. Fifty-eight-year-old Sri Lankan,
Hiran Fernando, was facing 37 charges of sexually offending against 12 female
patients between 1981 and 2002. The women say they became victims
of a man described by prosecutors as a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Following a month long trial, it
took the jury of six men and six women over two and a half days to reach
their decision. They found Fernando guilty on 26 charges of indecent assault,
and not guilty on eight similar charges as well as not guilty on three sexual
violation charges. Three of the jurors openly wept as the verdict was
delivered. Up until his trial, Fernando had
still been practising but only with a chaperone in attendance when he was
examining women and children. The Crown said the doctor's
victims were young and naive, and he used them for his own sexual
gratification. Prosecutors claimed he performed
intimate vaginal and breast examinations with no medical reason, pressed
himself against the women's bodies, didn't use gloves for procedures like
smears and asked unnecessary questions about their sex lives. The doctor's lawyer argued the
patients had misunderstood what were in fact standard medical procedures, and
the accused was a man of good character who flatly denied pressing himself
against any of the women. Fernando was known to many as an
upstanding citizen and won a number of community awards, including the New
Plymouth District Council's citizen's award. The guilty verdicts have been
applauded by women's health advocates. Fernando will be sentenced in one
months time. |
