Deportation awaits fake psychiatrist
A fake psychiatrist at the centre of a lengthy court saga has been denied a last taste of freedom in New Zealand.
Mohamed Shakeel Siddiqui, 58, appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Friday, where he made an application to be remanded on bail prior to being deported to his native India.
The content of the bail application – put to the court on Siddiqui’s behalf by lawyer Rob Quin – cannot be reported. It was declined by Judge Merelina Burnett. Siddiqui was sentenced to four years and three months in prison in September last year on four charges of deception and forgery.
It was the conclusion of case that spanned more than two years. During that time, Siddiqui had several lawyers, made close to 20 court appearances, and lodged a last-ditch attempt to overthrow the judge determining his case.
Siddiqui used the credentials of an actual psychiatrist, Dr Mohammed
Shafi Siddiqui, who is working in Illinois in the United States.
He has been remanded in custody since December 27, 2015, when he was arrested at Auckland Airport, apparently attempting to flee the country.
Although he had handed in his passport to the court, he had obtained a fresh passport sent to him by family living overseas.
He had also purchased a one-way ticket to Houston, Texas. It is understood he has a son and a daughter living in the US. Siddiqui worked for the Waikato District Health Board as a psychiatrist for six months in 2015, with a salary of $165,250, before suspicions about the veracity of his credentials were raised.
His deception began in 2014, when he applied for a job as a psychiatrist with the Waikato DHB through International Medical Recruitment (IMR).
He worked for the district health board’s crisis, triage and home-based treatment service and was responsible for triaging all contacts with mental health services. Siddiqui provided three references.
The recruitment agency checked those references via email correspondence, with only one of the referees contacted by phone.
All three references were fake.
Concerns were eventually raised about Siddiqui’s professional abilities by a colleague.
He resigned from the position in July 2015 and was subsequently charged.
The application for bail was made on Friday because including time already served by the time he was convicted and sentenced, he had reached the end of his time in jail.
Judge Burnett remanded Siddiqui in custody until October 26 – by which time he will have been deported to India.