Doctor facing rape charges given bail
A DOCTOR accused of raping a patient has been granted bail and barred from entering Townsville for any reason other than attending court.
The doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces 25 charges, including eight counts of rape, two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, four counts of common assault, threatening violence, wilful damage and perverting the course of justice. One of the rape charges relates to an incident in 2012 where it will be alleged the doctor inserted his fingers into a woman’s vagina while she was in a consultation room at a Townsville medical centre. The other seven rape charges stem from complaints from another woman.
It will also be alleged the doctor attempted to intimidate a witness into withdrawing a complaint against him, which led to him being charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He has been in custody since his arrest on March 24 this year and has twice been denied bail, most recently on April 30 when Townsville Supreme Court Justice David North ruled the man too great a risk of reoffending. However, appearing before Townsville Supreme Court again yesterday, the doctor was successful in obtaining bail. Several stringent bail conditions were im- posed by Justice North including that the doctor reside at an address in Sydney.
He is not to enter the Townsville local government area except for the purpose of court attendance or with written permission from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Furthermore, the doctor had to surrender his Australian passport and must not approach or enter an international point of departure.
He is also not to contact any civil witnesses connected with the charges he faces.
The doctor is facing five counts of breaching bail conditions which prosecutors had previously argued as reason for him not be granted bail again.
A breach of any of the new bail conditions mean the doctor would risk being remanded in custody.
The case will next be heard in Townsville Magistrates Court later this week.