PSYCHIATRIST ACQUITTED

Shenava cleared of sexual assault, extortion

The 67-year-old Windsor psychiatrist accused of sexually assaulting a patient has been found not guilty.

Dr. Ravishankar Thimmangur Shenava — also known as Ravi Shenava — was cleared of five counts of sexual assault and one count of extortion on Friday.

“Dr. Shenava is obviously pleased with the outcome,” said David Humphrey, one of Shenava’s two defence lawyers. “He has always maintained his innocence. All he wanted was a fair trial by a judge who would carefully scrutinize the complainant’s evidence. That’s what he’s got and in the result the judge found that there was lots of reasonable doubt and he was rightfully found not guilty.”

In her judgment, Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance said the case rested on the credibility of Shenava’s accuser.

The 36-year-old woman testified Shenava forced her to masturbate him and have intercourse with him in 2012 and 2015 in exchange for his signature on her application for the Ontario Disability Support Program. She said she needed the income from ODSP and the prescription drug coverage that came along with it.

Over the course of the two-week trial, the court heard that the woman has an extensive criminal history including theft, break-and-enter, selling drugs, and working as an escort.

The woman admitted to stealing about 800 vehicles in her lifetime.

At times during her testimony, the complainant appeared to fall asleep on the stand. On two different days, proceedings were cut short due to her fatigue.

“The judge gave a very thorough and careful review of the complainant’s evidence and found that there were significant concerns about her credibility, and that the case fell well short of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Humphrey.

Following the ruling on Friday, assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Holmes said she agreed with Pomerance that the complainant’s evidence was “the crux of the case.”

Holmes had argued that the accuser was credible due to her willingness to volunteer uncomplimentary information about herself. For example, the vehicle thefts she spoke of are not on her criminal record.

Dr. Shenava is obviously pleased with the outcome. He has always maintained his innocence.

“We respect Justice Pomerance’s decision,” Holmes said on Friday. “We have faith in the justice system. We believed that there was a case to be made, and that’s why we moved forward with the case against Dr. Shenava.”

Holmes noted that there are allegations against Shenava from at least five other complainants. An indictment is expected to be before the court on Feb. 16. Holmes said the new case will involve charges similar to the recent trial.

Humphrey said the February court appearance will be to set a date for a pretrial conference in the next case. That will likely happen sometime in March.

Shenava still has his medical licence, but is not allowed to be alone with patients. He is also facing a disciplinary hearing before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, where 11 patients have filed complaints of sexual abuse.