Doctor accused of abuse to be released but unable to be alone with female patients, employees

CONTENT WARNING: This story refers to allegations of domestic violence and sexual offending.

A prominent Canberra doctor accused of rape is set to be released, but the court has ordered that he be chaperoned around female patients and staff members.

The doctor, who legally cannot be named due to a non-publication order, is alleged to have sexually, physically or indecently abused four women employed by his clinic between 2021 and 2024.

His 20 charges include assaults, two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, seven counts of committing acts of indecency, one count of attempted sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

According to court documents, the allegations include slapping a then-partner on multiple occasions, recording a video of himself and a woman having sexual intercourse while she was intoxicated, and indecently assaulting a different woman while in an Uber.

After previously being refused bail in late January, he made another bid for freedom this week.

During a hearing on Wednesday (5 February), the court heard the prosecution’s concerns that the man could remotely interfere with evidence if freed.

At the time, prosecutor Marcus Dyason said his office was concerned about the possibility of the man using “a number of ‘fail-safe’ or backdoor applications or capacities” to interfere with data on his devices that police had seized.

He also pled not guilty to the charges against him on Wednesday.

When the man’s case returned to court on Friday (7 February), Mr Dyason said the download, which consisted of 442 GB of data, had started on Thursday morning, but it was unclear how long it would take.

“Some photos, for example, are taking longer than others. For some photos, the files are corrupting halfway through [meaning police must] split the file into two and then re-attempt to download a particular file,” he said.

“Putting a timeframe on it is not possible because it is not possible to say which files will corrupt halfway through [the download].”

The man’s defence barrister, Greg James KC, said the prosection’s claim that his client may interfere with evidence was “speculative, rather than founded on any real evidence”.

He also told the court the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency had been notified of the charges and could monitor his client.

Magistrate Glenn Theakston ultimately decided to grant bail, though the man was not released immediately.

Instead, he will be released at 5 pm on Tuesday (11 February).

“I think my hands are tied to some degree,” he said.

Under the lengthy conditions of his bail, the man will need to live at a set address, not consume alcohol or illicit drugs and not be within 100 metres of various people (including his alleged victims).

The doctor must also be accompanied by a chaperone when working with female staff or seeing female patients.

Magistrate Theakston said that the man’s case was “unique” in how his absence would be felt by his patients.

“[He is] a necessary part of the ACT medical system, someone who cannot be replaced in the short-term,” he said.

Also, while the man currently cannot be named, Mr Dyason flagged that a challenge would be made to the suppression order.

He will next appear in court in March.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.