Doctor on trial accused of sexually assaulting two patients

A doctor has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting two female patients during medical consultations. The man (37) is alleged to have touched the women’s breasts while examining their chests with a stethoscope.

The man has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of sexual assault at a GP clinic in Dublin on February 19th and 20th, 2013. The first woman told Melanie Greally, prosecuting, that she was aged 22 and was at work suffering from cold and flu symptoms. He was working there on his first day as a locum.

She said that when he went to take her blood pressure she held her arm out and he “gently” took her hand and turned her arm around and with his fingertips, he ran his fingers up the length of her uncovered arm “really gently”. “Automatically I felt very very uncomfortable.” She agreed with Michael Bowman, defending, that she did not articulate her discomfort to the doctor.

She said he pulled her bra strap down and pushed her bra to one side completely exposing her breast. She said he did the same with her right breast and didn’t speak during any of this part of the chest examination until he told her: “Your pulse, your heart is beating very fast.”

After she left she became very upset and was crying, she said.

The trial continues before Judge Catherine Murphy and a jury.