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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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One of Hiran Fernando's victims is
devastated the Medical Council did not take her seriously when she made a
complaint about him more than 20 years ago. The woman, who cannot be
identified, told the Taranaki Daily News yesterday that if the council had
listened to her, maybe other women would have been spared the doctor's abuse.
Fernando (58) was on Thursday
convicted in the High Court at New Plymouth of 26 charges of indecent
assault. The woman was just 17 when she
wrote a letter of complaint to the Medical Council, hours after having a
consultation with Fernando in 1984 -- he indecently assaulted her and pushed
his erect penis against her body. "For me, that's something I
really hated -- why didn't they do something about it then, when I made that
complaint? "I went home that night and I
called my mother and told her what happened," the woman, now 39, said. She wrote her letter to the
Medical Council that night. The woman said the only response
from the council was two standard letters. "I was just a girl." The tearful woman went on to
explain how, in the weeks following the abuse, she lost her job because she
couldn't "keep it together". She later left New Plymouth and
moved to another city, where she still lives. The woman was one of the 12
complainants who gave evidence during Fernando's month-long trial. She said giving evidence had been
difficult. "And it's not over yet is it
. . . he could appeal and now we have to write victim impact
statements." However, she applauded the jury's
guilty verdicts. The woman said that for years
after Fernando sexually assaulted her, she could not go to any doctors and
when she finally did, she broke down at every appointment. "It was just
humiliating." She was angry that Fernando
continued to get name suppression throughout the trial and believed there
were likely to be a lot of other victims. Fernando's identity was made
public following his conviction. "And it's just criminal that
he continued to practise and he still can -- I can't believe that he's not
just struck off immediately." Fernando is remanded on bail until
his sentencing on November 15. The police officer in charge of
the investigation, Detective Sergeant Debbie Gower, was pleased with the
result of the trial. "Overall I'm happy. It's not
easy doing what they (the victims) did. "I don't think anyone would
want to go to court and have to disclose all sorts of things like they
did," Ms Gower said yesterday. She had been working on the case
since 2003, when the first complainant came to police. -------------------- CAPTION: GRAPHIC:Letter from a victim [One
of Fernando's 12 victims wrote this letter to the Taranaki Daily News] |
