A Sydney gynaecologist has been found not guilty of repeatedly sexually assaulting a patient, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. In a separate case, he was acquitted of nine charges of sexual intercourse without consent and indecent assault relating to three other female patients.
In the sexual assault case, a judge determining a contradiction between the complainant’s allegations of abuse and expressions of gratitude she had sent to the doctor to be “so troubling it is bereft of any rational explanation”.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Dr Richard Ian Reid, now retired, faced a judge-alone trial before Acting Judge Michael Allen in the NSW District Court, after pleading not guilty to 16 charges, including aggravated sexual intercourse without consent and indecent assault, in circumstances where the woman was under his authority. The Crown alleged Reid touched and penetrated the woman for his own sexual gratification when she attended his consulting rooms for treatment of gynaecological conditions, and that he repeated the conduct on eight occasions between mid-2010 and late 2014.
But the defence claimed the complainant had a financial motive and her allegations were “lies”.
Allen found Reid not guilty of all 16 charges. For legal reasons, the verdict could not be reported until this week, after Reid was acquitted at a separate judge-alone trial of nine charges of sexual intercourse without consent and indecent assault relating to three other female patients.
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