A Doctor accused of sexually assaulting two women tonsilitis patients has been found not guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The jury of seven men and five women took two hours to reach a unanimous verdict of not guilty on charges that the doctor sexually assaulted the women at the Mater Hospital, Dublin, on July 28th, 1997. A jury had disagreed in a previous trial.
The doctor at first appeared confused, but he raised his hands in the air when he was told by Judge Kieran O'Connor that he could leave the court a free man. He had been in custody for 18 months and wept as he left the courtroom with his legal advisers.
Thanking the jury, Judge O'Connor said that there should be no demonstrations until the families of the two women had left the court. One of the women wept as she departed.
The prosecution had alleged that on July 28th, 1997, the doctor sexually assaulted two women patients at the Mater Hospital in Dublin. The 35-year-old doctor, who is from Pakistan, was said to have committed the offences while giving the women pre-operative examinations. Both women were due to have their tonsils removed the following day.
The first complainant, aged 25, said that the doctor had given her three vaginal examinations and had attempted a fourth, but she had brushed his hand away. He had also tried to kiss her lips and had fondled her breasts. He had made a number of inappropriate comments, including that she was "a beautiful lady" and that she had "a lovely nipple".
The second patient said that he had given her two vaginal examinations, had lifted up her bra and played with her nipple. He had then reinserted his finger forcefully into her vagina, which hurt her. She sat up in the bed, forcing him to remove his finger, and told him that that was enough.
A consultant anaesthetist at the Mater, Dr Dermot Phelan, said that the vaginal examinations could not be clinically justified and that the doctor had not followed accepted hospital practice.
In his defence, the doctor strenuously denied the charges. He showed the court excerpts from a standard medical textbook which stated that all systems of the body should be checked before a patient went to surgery. As the genitalurinary system was one of the six systems of the body, he felt obliged to give vaginal examinations to the women.
He agreed that he was inexperienced or negligent in the way the examinations were carried out, but denied seeking sexual gratification. "Doctors are immune to women's bodies," he said.
In his examination of the first patient he had noted a sharp pain in the abdomen. She explained that she had a history of irritable bowel syndrome and he also feared that she might have had an ovarian cyst.
He agreed that he gave her a vaginal examination, but only after she had consented. He denied that he had fondled her or made inappropriate comments.
He also agreed that he carried out a vaginal examination on the second patient, this time because she had complained of heavy periods. He strongly denied suggestions that he fondled her breast.
The former Clare TD Dr Moosajee Bhamjee gave evidence for the defence, saying Pakistani doctors had significant problems adjusting to Irish culture and often required supervision for an extended period of time.