Doctor denies sex attack on girl patient

A DOCTOR has denied he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl in an East Anglian hospital by pretending to perform an abortion and insisted he had not carried out any medical procedures on the girl.

Rashid Sandhu, an A&E doctor at the James Paget University Hospital (JPH), Gorleston, is said to have rubbed the girl's breast with gel during an illegal medical procedure in an office at the JPH last June, telling her she needed an abortion after falsely informing her she was pregnant.

Sandhu, who lived at Hopton near Yarmouth but now resides in Kent, has denied sexual assault.

He has admitted having 170 pornographic images of children on his computer and the prosecution allege he took his obsession to another level when he assaulted the girl.

Giving evidence at Norwich Crown Court Sandhu, 30, told the jury that he was working in the A&E department when the 13-year-old girl and her 15-year-old friend went in with urinary infections and both girls were also concerned that they were pregnant.

He said he prescribed antibiotics for their urinary infections and said they both tested negative for pregnancy.

However, the girls were still concerned and as he could not see the result himself of the pregnancy test on the 13-year-old, he said he would phone her later at her friend's home.

Sandhu said both girls were also worried about sexually-transmitted diseases as they had both slept with the same boyfriend.

Sandhu said he had phoned the 13-year-old girl to tell her she was not pregnant but the two girls turned up at the hospital the next day with their boyfriend.

He said it was by chance that he met them in the car park.

“They walked towards me. They said that there were some issues they wanted to discuss with me,” said Sandhu.

He said he first spoke to the 15-year-old girl in his room for about 20 minutes and then to the 13-year-old girl.

He said no medical procedure was carried out but the 13-year-old girl asked him for a morning-after pill as she was still concerned she could be pregnant, but he refused.

“She said, 'why can't you give me a morning-after pill under the counter?'”

She then was racially abusive and said he would have given her a pill if she had been “Asian”.

Sandhu said: “I was trying to help them. I did not expect that comment.”

He said he swore at the girl and she left the room in a hurry.

Sandhu said he was upset at losing his temper. “It's the first time I have ever said these words to any patient. I thought I should say sorry to her,” said Sandhu.

He said he went outside to apologise and told her that he could not help her any more.

He said: “There were no procedures carried out at all.”

Sandhu admitted that he had told lies during police interview as he was under stress.

“I was kept overnight in a cell and I was scared to death and was very stressed out,” he said.

The trial continues.