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| George Doodnaught |
(Scroll down for video) A doctor is facing a long prison sentence after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting 21 women.
George Doodnaught of Canada, who worked as an anaesthesiologist at the North York General Hospital in Toronto, was found guilty of sexually assaulting the women while they were under anaesthetics.
The victims were aware of what was happening, but were unable to move their limbs, the court heard.
Doctor Doodnaught kissed the patients as they lay on the operating table. He fondled their breasts and made explicit sexual remarks.
In 13 of the cases, he was accused of placing his penis in the mouth or hands of the victim.
Doodnaught’s attorney Brian Greenspan told Ontario Superior Court Judge David McCombs that the height of the operating room table, as well as the presence of various machines and IV lines would have made it difficult if not impossible for Doodnaught to even get close enough to the victims.
Greenspan also said that there are many doctors and nurses going in and out of the operating room. “No one saw or heard anything that would indicate sexual assault,” Greenspan said.
However, it was said that Doodnaught stood near the patient’s head with a sterile sheet over the upper body hiding him from the sight of other staff.
The defense attorney also argued that the victims had vivid sexual dreams caused by sedatives, which is known to play tricks with memory.
Most of the 21 victims took the stand against Doodnaught, and all had similar accounts of being sexually abused while having surgery on the lower part of their bodies.
The Judge said that is not a coincidence that all 21 women reported being sexually abused by the same man.
Judge McCombs noted that the women did not know each other, and all came forward on separate occasions.