A doctor accused of sexually assaulting two patients has said that one of the women is motivated by money and is "trying to make hay while the sun shines" by suing him.
He said the woman had been pursuing him for money since 1997 and was seeking compensation of £30,000. He believed that gardai had suggested the subject of money to her and he could not understand why they had done so.
He also claimed that a senior nurse in the Mater Hospital, Dublin, made racist remarks to him after hearing of the allegations made by the other alleged victim. It was the 11th day of the trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of the 35-year-old doctor who denies sexually assaulting two female patients at the Mater Hospital, on July 28th, 1997. The defendant told Mr Paul McDermott, prosecuting, that the second alleged victim did not make her complaint against him until after he was arrested for the first alleged assault. He believed that gardai told her that if she made a complaint, she could "make hay while the sun shines" and take a substantial legal claim.
He also said that after the first woman made her complaint, Ms Catherine Murphy, a senior nurse in the Mater Hospital, made racist remarks to him. She said he was a Muslim who kept women under veils yet carried out vaginal examinations on Christian women.
Witness said he believed Ms Murphy left the remark out of her statement to gardai because she later realised it was inappropriate. On the night of the examinations, the nurse was furious and said the woman could allege rape. Judge Kieran O'Connor said the allegation of racial remarks and statements about rape were not put to Ms Murphy when she took the stand. He asked the jury to ignore the defendant's comments.
Asked why he did not conduct a full vaginal examination of the second alleged victim by removing all of her underclothes, the doctor remarked: "Thank God I didn't remove the undergarments, otherwise I would be tried for rape or other such things."
Witness said he recalled the evidence of consultant gynaecologist Dr Peter McKenna, who said all of a patient's underclothes should be removed.
Asked why he had not followed this procedure, the doctor replied: "There is no comparison between Dr McKenna and me. Dr McKenna says it was inappropriate. He is in a position to write books and I wish to be like him." Asked why he did not wash his hands before examining the second alleged victim, he said it did not cross his mind. She had complained of heavy bleeding and he was concerned.
Mr McDermott asked him why he omitted details of the vaginal examination of the second woman from the anaesthetics sheet. He replied that he had come to the State as a student. It was written on his passport that he was a trainee. It was his belief that all foreign doctors who came to Ireland were exploited and had to do menial jobs for the hospitals.
Asked again why he had left omissions in the anaesthetic record, the doctor said it was not the practice in Pakistan to make charts for examinations. Mr McDermott asked him if he seriously expected the jury to believe that there was no record made in Pakistan of a patient's medical problems before a serious gynaecology operation. The defendant replied that he did not carry out gynaecology examinations in Pakistan. On his examination of the second patient: "I did it according to the book. It was not in my mind that Mr McDermott was waiting for me." He agreed he had made mistakes in the examination. He denied receiving sexual pleasure from examining the woman. The trial continues.