"He asked me about sexual side effects"
An emergency department doctor denied he was a “sexual predator” after he allegedly sexually assaulted two male patients on a different ward.
Tayabb Shah allegedly “strayed” into an acute ward to commit five sexual assaults on two vulnerable victims over a two-week period in the autumn of 2020.
At Nottingham Crown Court, he denied the allegations, saying he was carrying out legitimate examinations to build up points for an appraisal.
The alleged offences were committed while Shah worked as a junior locum doctor and on a break at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre.
Shah was cross-examined by his barrister Marie Spenwyn and prosecutor Ian West.
He rejected Mr West’s assertion that he was a “sexual predator” who had deliberately targeted two vulnerable people in attacks that “had nothing to do with continuing education”.
Shah conceded he had not entered any details into the patients’ notes and claimed he had kept his own record of the assessments in a notebook.
Asked by Mr West where the notebook, if it existed, Shah responded:
“I don’t have it right now with me.
“I was moving and I just can’t find it. I lost it somewhere.”
After being invited to further explain his failure to add to the patients’ medical records, Shah added:
“My mind was thinking about the assessments that I was doing. It never came across my mind.”
One victim, a teenager, gave evidence at the trial.
He was in hospital that day and saw different medical professionals including Shah.
The witness agreed to an examination by Shah who had asked him questions about why he was in hospital.
The witness said: “He asked me about sexual side effects of my medications.”
Miss Spenwyn asked: “Was it not he was asking about general side effects?”
He replied: “No because he used the words.”
Miss Spenwyn asked: “To be clear, he used the words, ‘sexual side effects?'”
The witness replied: “Yes.”
Shah did not accept he said that to the patient.
On the examination, the teenager claimed Shah had asked him to take off his trousers and felt around his stomach area.
It was claimed that the doctor then squeezed scars on the patient’s thighs.
Miss Spenwyn asked the witness if he was sure that her client touched his genitals and he replied: “Yes.”
He also maintained that the doctor had squeezed his private area.
Miss Spenwyn said Shah did not accept at any point touching his genitals.
Mr West asked Shah if he could suggest a reason why a patient would tell a “career-destroying” lie about him.
The doctor replied: “I don’t know. I wish I knew the reason.”
Shah then suggested that one of the complaints could be linked to a remark made to him about “foreign doctors”.
Mr West asked him:
“Is there nothing you won’t say or allege to try to get away with this?”
Shah replied: “I am not that type of person.”
The married father-of-two said he was of Pakistani nationality and had studied for his medical degree in China before initially working in the United States.
He also said that after being employed at a hospital in Galway, he started working in Nottingham in January 2020.
Answering questions from Miss Spenwyn, Shah said he had not touched either patient’s private parts and had not added to their medical records because he “thought it would be no big deal”.
Explaining part of his reasoning for treating patients away from his own ward, Shah said:
“This was my first year in the UK.
“My appraisal was approaching in the second week of December.
“I discussed it with a consultant in the ED – they did tell me that you needed to have a certain amount of points.”
Shah, aged 39, formerly of Sherwood, but now of no fixed address, denies five counts of sexual assault.
The trial continues.
Loading ...