Rape victim sues hospital for R50 million

‘Accused acted in scope of his employment’

A DURBAN North woman who was raped by a senior male nurse at Life Healthcare Group’s Mount Edgecombe Hospital is suing the health-care provider and the convicted assailant in the Durban High Court for R50 million in damages.

Tash Reddy, who was admitted to the hospital on June 27 in 2017 for an investigative procedure to check for possible cancer in her abdomen, was raped by the senior nursing sister who she said had “groomed” her ahead of the assault by professionally reassuring her that he had to perform a routine “physical examination” on behalf of her doctor before she underwent a medical procedure in theatre.

Reddy, who is being represented in the damages case by attorney Theasen Pillay, has given The Mercury permission to name her.

Court papers filed in the high court last week state that the claim against the first respondent, Life Healthcare Group, and the second respondent, the nurse, Remano Damian Govender, was for “general damages arising out of wrongful, unlawful and criminal actions of the second defendant” who “at all material times” had acted in the scope of his employment with the hospital group.

Govender has been found guilty of the rape in the Verulam Regional Court and is awaiting sentencing.

The particulars of the claim state that Reddy had been “anxious, fearful and worried” about the possibility of having stomach cancer at the time of her admission to hospital on the day.

Govender, who had approached her while she lay alone in her hospital bed after admission, had initially appeared to be “comforting, concerned and considerate” of her apprehensive state. The papers state that he told her he had to conduct a “routine” physical examination to check for bruises, scars lumps and other abnormalities, on behalf of her doctor.

Govender told Reddy to lie flat on her back and he proceeded to examine her neck, upper abdomen and chest. He then claimed that due to her kidney and bladder infection that a “vaginal examination was necessary” and he proceeded to rape her. When she recoiled, he put his hand on her shoulder and told her to relax.

Reddy’s concerns had been initially alleviated when Govender told her that “this examination” was necessary ahead of her medical procedure.

She had also noted that there were two other patients in the ward and he eventually stopped when he was called away by another nurse.

Later when Reddy’s husband arrived they contacted a relative, who is a nurse, to check whether the “examination” was necessary and she had advised that it was not part of any recognised medical procedure.

Reddy then immediately reported the rape at the Phoenix police station.

Reddy had tried to use her story of “victimisation and grotesque sexual assault” as a catalyst for empowering projects but in reality she lived a life of “solitude, regret, remorse and fear”.

“The plaintiff claims that the defendants, in particular the first defendant, owed her a duty of care. The plaintiff claims that the first defendant is vicariously liable for the actions of the second defendant,” the papers state.

Provincial police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed yesterday that Govender had been found guilty of rape on March 6, 2020. She said he was due to be sentenced later this month. He had pleaded not guilty to the crime.

Reddy issued summons on Life Healthcare Group, which was received and stamped by the Inanda Area 1 Sheriff on May 29, but the hospital group’s regional manager Greg Swale said this week that it had not received the notice of the court application.

“Life Healthcare notes that a summons was purportedly issued on behalf of Reddy on May 29, 2020. Life Healthcare has not received service of the summons, but was sent a copy from a journalist,” he said.

“As this matter is now purportedly before the court, Life Healthcare is not in a position to comment until it has considered Reddy’s alleged claim and taken advice from its lawyers,” Swale said.

He said Life Healthcare had noted that Reddy had “elected to involve the media before Life Healthcare had an opportunity to consider her alleged claim”.