Court cancels registration of child psychiatrist who groomed and sexually abused teenage girl

High Court president, Mr Justice Barniville, said it was very hard to imagine a more serious case. File picture

A child psychiatrist who groomed and sexually abused a teenage girl whose parents had asked him to help has had his registration cancelled by the High Court.

Mr Justice David Barniville confirmed the sanction imposed by the Medical Council saying it was a “truly appalling and shocking case.” 

Child psychiatrist Amirul Mohd Yunos is currently serving eight years and six months in prison after he pleaded guilty in the Circuit Criminal Court to six charges of engaging in a sexual act with a child under 17, one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one of meeting a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The victim was not formally his patient. Yunos was known to her parents, who had asked him to engage with their daughter who was experiencing mental health difficulties at the time.

She was 15 when most of the incidents occurred between May and June 2023 and 16 when the final incident occurred in September 2023.

Yunos, who was in his late 30s and with an address in Hollystown, Dublin 15, was working as a child psychiatrist in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) centre in Clonskeagh, Co Dublin, at the time of his offending in 2023.

The Circuit Criminal Court heard the abuse started with inappropriate touching, before escalating to penetration. The offences took place at a number of locations including a car, his home, her home and his workplace.

High Court president, Mr Justice Barniville, said it was very hard to imagine a more serious case. The judge said the Medical Council could not impose any other sanction than cancellation of the registration.

Application to cancel registration

Opening the application on behalf of the Medical Council, Sinead Taaffe, solicitor, told the court that Yunos is currently incarcerated and had indicated he did not wish to attend the High Court hearing.

In an affidavit opened to the court, Medical Council CEO Maria O’Kane said the registration of the child psychiatrist had been suspended in October 2023 from the register until the conclusion of proceedings.

Ms O’Kane said the Medical Council, in recommending cancellation of the registration, had considered the convictions related to the offences at the “very height of seriousness” and rendered the practitioner a person who has permanently ceased to be a fit and proper person to continue to practise medicine by reason of his conduct.

Having considered the transcript of the circuit court case, the council also said there were aggravating circumstances. This included that the family of the 15-year-old victim had approached the consultant psychiatrist because he was known to them. Trust, the council noted, was therefore central to the relationship.

The council considered the convictions and the circumstances in which the offences were committed to be incompatible with the practise of medicine.

It considered immediate action was necessary in the public interest, to protect the public, uphold the professional standards of the medical profession and maintain public confidence in the profession.

Imposing sentence on Yunos in the Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Orla Crowe noted the teenage girl’s victim impact statement highlighted the “very grave” and ongoing effects on the girl.

The judge said these effects “should have been apparent to this offender, given his professional insight”. The judge said Yunos had breached the trust of the girl “who was groomed by him, then abused” and the trust of her parents, which was an aggravating factor.