Doctor's lies led to 'spectacular fall from grace' that ended with jail

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to sexual assault allegations.

It was a doctor’s lies about his dog that led to his undoing in the end.

Imran Kader sat through two trials in Canberra’s courts in which he was accused of sexually assaulting a nurse.

While both juries couldn’t agree on verdicts, during the course of the trials, he not only perjured himself but also tried to force his ex-wife to change a statement she made to police about their dog to get her to help defend him.

On Friday (1 December), the ACT Supreme Court’s Chief Justice, Lucy McCallum, called the 39-year-old “dishonest and manipulative” before sentencing him to a total of two-and-a-half years’ jail.

During the trials, Kader was alleged to have sexually assaulted the nurse at his apartment in 2019 while he had been working as a vascular surgical registrar at the Canberra Hospital.

Both juries could not reach unanimous verdicts. After the second, the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to proceed with the allegations, ending the proceedings.

But during the first trial, the nurse claimed that when she tried to leave Kader’s apartment that evening, he stopped her by throwing her against the wall and holding her there.

However, when he talked to police, he claimed he couldn’t have thrown her there as that part of the wall had been obstructed by items like a large tub of dog food and a dog bowl at the time.

He then lied in his first trial as he said his dog had been living with him occasionally in 2019 when it had actually moved to live with his then-wife in NSW in the middle of that year.

Also, before his second trial was to start, he tried to convince his ex-wife, as they had separated by then, to make a false statement to cover up for this perjury.

She had given a statement to police that contradicted his claims about the dog, and as soon as he learned about this, he began texting, calling and emailing her to talk about it.

“There were one or two things that I stated in my evidence that wasn’t true. The main thing was regarding the dog,” he emailed to her.

In his texts, he said, “[S]ending me to prison for a crime I didn’t commit is not in anyone’s best interests”.

“Assisting the police to convict me [is] disgraceful,” he told her.

Chief Justice McCallum said she was satisfied the items Kader claimed were at the wall were not there at the time of the alleged sexual assault and his email provided “a telling account of a series of deliberate lies”.

She was also satisfied his claims that it was not possible for the nurse to have been pushed against the wall due to the presence of the items were deliberate lies made to undermine her credibility.

The chief justice said he was aware of the “brazenness” of his approach to his ex-wife, whom he had cheated on, as he claimed the incident with the nurse had been consensual, and his conduct to her had been “cynical and manipulative”.

She said Kader told his lies to secure an acquittal from the sexual assault allegations.

He ultimately pleaded guilty to charges of perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Chief Justice McCallum said during the trial that the nurse had been cross-examined on what was now accepted as a false premise and was clearly a victim of his conduct.

“I had to fight to be believed over a dog bowl, all while he was lying the whole time,” the nurse said in her victim impact statement.

His ex-wife also talked about her “relief” after their relationship ended.

“I believed that I was out of his control,” she said.

The chief justice said while Kader accepted his responsibility for his offending, he attributed his behaviour to his poor mental health, stress and his increased reliance on drugs and prescription medications. She did say his “spectacular fall from grace” had an impact on his mental health.

His medical licence was suspended pending the resolution of his court matters and he hoped it will be reinstated.

He was handed a non-parole period of one year, which means he can be released from custody in December 2024.

Kader pleaded not guilty to the alleged sexual assault and no findings have been made against him in respect to those allegations.

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 or by visiting www.1800respect.org.au. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.