AN EPSOM GP subjected five of his female patients to a catalogue of perverted attacks under the guise of giving them medical examinations, a court has been told.
Dr Adil Shareef, 44, is accused of seven counts of sexual assault, as well as indecently touching one woman during a bogus acupuncture session before warning her: “Don’t tell anyone or else everyone will want it.”
In one incident, Dr Shareef allegedly put his hand inside a patient’s bra and touched her breasts, even though she had only visited the doctor about a persistent cough and cold.
He denies one count of indecent assault and seven of sexual assault on six different women at two GP surgeries over the space of five years between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2008.
A jury at Guildford Crown Court heard this week that Dr Shareef, from Churchill Road, Epsom, was visited by one woman, then aged 23, who went for a consultation in 2003 at the Old Cottage Hospital Surgery in Epsom after falling victim to urinary tract infection.
Jurors were told that the defendant instructed her to remove her trousers and then lifted her knickers to touch her in what she described as a wholly unnecessary examination.
Giving evidence, the woman, now aged 30, said: “I was in complete disbelief. I was dumbfounded.”
She said she was shocked to see that Dr Shareef was not even wearing gloves, which she believed was a contravention of basic hygiene procedures.
“If you're going to touch multiple women, you are going to run the risk of passing disease around,” she said.
The woman told the jury she was in floods of tears when she told her mother what had happened and an official complaint was made to the surgery.
The court heard that bosses of the medical practice logged the incident on Dr Shareef’s record and agreed to install video equipment to monitor all his future medical examinations.
The woman said she finally went to the police after hearing that other female patients had subsequently complained about the GP.
Jurors were told the remaining incidents allegedly took place at the Fountain Medical Centre, in Ewell Village, where Dr Shareef moved to in 2004.
They were said to have included one occasion in 2008 when the doctor allegedly massaged a woman’s private parts on the pretext of putting ointment on some lesions she was suffering from.
Graham Smith, prosecuting, said Dr Shareef used the excuse of medical examinations to commit acts which were designed for the purposes of his "sexual gratification"
The court was told that the defendant came across as a friendly and caring doctor to patients and staff alike.
“But that friendly exterior masked a more sinister side,” said Mr Smith.
Dr Shareef was arrested on 19 November, 2008 after complaints were made to the police.
He has denied any inappropriate behaviour and insisted that the complainants misinterpreted his actions.
The trial continues.