An acupuncturist has been remanded for sentence on July 30th after he pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting two women patients.
Judge Kieran O'Connor prohibited publication of the 47-year-old single man's name at this stage, on the application of Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending.
The man pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the patients in his home in Dublin on dates in 1996. He had no previous convictions. The women, in their early 20s, cannot be identified for legal reasons.
The court heard the man qualified as a doctor in Taiwan but failed 11 times in surgery examinations in Ireland. He came here in 1984 and achieved a good reputation as an acupuncturist with a client list of about 1,240.
Det Sgt George McGeary said the man had made offensive video recordings of naked female patients. Twelve women were recorded on two tapes handed to the family of one victim by the defendant.
The women were unaware they had been video taped since the man asked them to wear opaque goggles, which he said would help them relax for treatment. Det Sgt McGeary said the case might not have come to light had one woman not observed a camcorder in the man's hand through a gap in the goggles.
Det Sgt McGeary told Mr Tom O'Connell, prosecuting, that the man had assaulted this woman. She became extremely distressed and was "in a most awful state when she reached her mother". She lodged a complaint with the gardai some hours later. Two days later, the man was interviewed by the now retired Det Sgt Brendan McGlynn.
The man went to the woman's family asking them to withdraw the complaint. Det Sgt McGeary said his behaviour made the family fear for his safety. The second woman identified herself on a video on three separate occasions and became so distressed she could not look at more than a few minutes of the recordings.
Some time after the Garda investigation began, the man sold his home and moved to London. He also went to Canada several times. Det Sgt McGeary traced him and advised him to get a solicitor in Dublin and to contact the gardai to make arrangements about coming back to meet the case. He was extradited back to Dublin unopposed on February 17th and had been in custody since then.
Det Sgt McGeary agreed with Mr Gageby (with Michael O'Higgins) the man was extremely remorseful for his actions and had begged forgiveness. He had co-operated with the Garda from the outset and admitted his guilt. Det Sgt McGeary said he had also handed over video-recordings. When extradited he said his original solicitor had advised him not to maintain contact with the gardai.
Both victims revealed in evidence that their experiences had caused them deep depression and resulted in psychiatric treatment. Neither had come to terms with it and both feared doctors and having to have medical treatment as a result of the man's actions.
Mr Gageby told Judge O'Connor his client's family could make £15,000 available for the victims. "My client knows that no money could relieve the victims' distress. This is not an attempt to buy his way out," said counsel.