Disgraced doctor gets community detention for indecent assault on patient

A disgraced former Christchurch doctor was found guilty on new charges of sexual abuse, five years after being jailed for groping or fondling patients.

Rakesh Kumar Chawdhry, 67, indecently assaulted a male patient six times between 2011 and 2013, about the same time Chawdhry abused 12 other patients from clinics in Amberley and Riccarton.

The victim had gone to Chawdhry for help with anxiety and depression, as well as difficulties getting an erection.

Chawdhry masturbated the patient in the guise of treating him, at one point asking “do you enjoy that?”

Judge Neave told the Christchurch District Court on Thursday the case was “unusual” as the defendant had already served jail time for similar offences, and was no longer considered a risk to the community.

READ MORE:

• Christchurch GP Rakesh Chawdhry found guilty of 12 sex offences against patients
• Christchurch doctor Rakesh Chawdhry denies sexually violating patient

It was nearly a year to the day that Chawdhry finished his four-year, four-month sentence for similar offending. The judge believed imposing a new jail sentence could be “potentially unjust and counterproductive”.

He was sentenced to six months’ community detention and 200 hours of community work.

He was also ordered to pay reparations for emotional damage to the victim, but the amount was suppressed.

Chawdhry was struck off the doctors register in November 2019, with the New Zealand Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal condemning his “gross breaches of trust”.

Chawdhry’s 12 other victims shared similar stories of the doctor groping or fondling them during a physical examination, often in the course of an STI check.

The tribunal said there had been a “significant power imbalance” where the former doctor took advantage of his victims’ lack of knowledge of the examination.

Chawdhry was charged with sexual violation in 2014 after a complaint was made to police in December 2012, but the Crown dropped its prosecution due to lack of evidence.

The alleged victim also had “significant credibility issues” and previous criminal convictions. Details of that case were suppressed.

A breakthrough didn’t come until 2016 when a man complained about sexual inappropriate behaviour by Chawdhry during a consultation. When Stuff reported on the matter, two more men came forward. Police and the Riccarton Clinic then canvassed hundreds more patients, from which 11 additional complainants were identified.

After Chawdhry was found guilty, Riccarton Clinic senior doctor Dr Angus Chambers acknowledged the complainants’ courage and apologised for any harm they suffered.