Red faces over doctor’s sex trial

THE state was left red-faced after it forgot to send the case docket of an East London paediatrician accused of sexual assault to the director of public prosecutions in Grahamstown.

The 64-year-old doctor was due to learn yesterday whether he would face charges of sexual assault but it was not to be, as state prosecutor Queode Botha told magistrate Rochelle Sam that the docket had not been sent to the DPP’s office for a decision on whether to prosecute.

The last time the doctor was in the East London Magistrate’s Court was July 12, when the court heard the docket would be sent to the DPP’s office. The case was postponed to yesterday for the announcement of that decision.

However, when the doctor’s name was called in the morning, Botha asked the court to postpone the matter for three weeks for the DPP’s decision.

The doctor’s attorney, Angus Pringle, reminded the magistrate that the last time the matter was in court it was postponed for the DPP’s decision. No explanation was offered in court as to why the docket was not sent to Grahamstown.

“It is for this reason your worship that this matter be granted a final remand for that purpose,” Pringle said. The case was postponed to August 25 for the DPP’s decision. The doctor’s bail was extended. The doctor is not being named as he has not yet pleaded to a crime of a sexual nature.

He was arrested in June for allegedly fondling the genitals of his patients’ mothers during consultations in his Beacon Bay practice.

The state has lined up at least three witnesses to testify against the doctor. Should the case go to trial and he be found guilty, the paediatrician could lose his medical practising licence for unethical conduct.

He was arrested by members of the East London Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.

Police said cases against the doctor had been opened at the Beacon Bay police station on May 28.

He was arrested and appeared in court on June 8 and was released on R5 000 bail. Police have not ruled out the possibility of more complainants coming forward.

The complainants are two mothers aged 23 and 26 who had visited the practice with their minor children.

The mothers also cannot be named because of the nature of the complaint and to protect their children.

According to the charge sheet, the paediatrician faces two counts of sexual assault. —