Court told bogus doctor treated girlfriend’s illness

THE Central Criminal Court has been told how a man masqueraded as a doctor and carried out intimate medical procedures on his then girlfriend who believed he was a medical professional.

The woman has accused the Cork man of depriving her of medical treatment as, after the four-month relationship ended, she was diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening tumour.

Prosecuting counsel, Paul Coffey SC, said it was the prosecution’s case that the woman gave her consent to two procedures carried out on her at her home by the accused on the basis that she believed he was a doctor.

The 32-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to masquerading as a doctor, thereby depriving the woman of proper medical attention and not guilty to two counts of sexually assaulting her with a syringe between August and October 2006.

He has also pleaded not guilty to three counts of assaulting the woman causing her harm, stealing a prescription pad, forging prescriptions and unauthorised use of the woman’s Laser card in the same period.

The woman told Mr Coffey that she met the accused while socialising in June 2006 and he told her that he was a doctor working in a hospital in Dublin.

She said the accused often broke arrangements citing “medical emergencies”.

The woman told the supposed doctor that she was in some pain from a medical condition. He then purported to liaise with colleagues about her condition before starting to treat her. The trial continues before Mr Justice Peter Charleton and a jury of seven woman and five men.