London: A 70-year-old doctor has been sentenced by a British court to 11 years of imprisonment for assaulting women patients over a period of three decades. Sheffield Crown Court Judge Simon Lawler sentenced Gousul Islam for 11 years for assaulting seven women patients. Delivering the verdict, the judge called Islam's actions "the grossest possible breach of trust of your position as a doctor".
"In 40 years' experience as a court practitioner, this is the worst case of its kind by a professional man I have had the misfortune to encounter or try," the judge said. "This is, on any view, a catalogue in some cases of persistent sexual abuse of patients with the grossest possible breach of trust of your position as a doctor."
Women jurors wept openly as the judge delivered the verdict against Islam, who hung his head in shame in the dock at the court room. Judge Lawler praised the women for speaking out, and said three of them had been left with psychological problems following the abuse which was a "terrible commentary on a medical man who took an oath to counsel and to care".
Within the privacy of his consulting room at a Doncaster area village surgery, Islam serially groped teenage girls and young women under the pretext of examinations. The married doctor asked the women to undress in his presence without a screen and lie on his treatment couch without a blanket or towel.
The allegations came to light in March 2010 when one woman complained to the police and inquiries led to other victims either being traced or coming forward. Islam was suspended by the General Medical Council in September 2010 and will now be struck off.
Michelle Colborne, prosecuting, said he "exploited the naivety' of these women and 'he succeeded because as the doctor in a close-knit community he was in a position of trust and status and power". Islam, of Station Road, Hatfield, Doncaster, ran the Lyndhurst surgery in Stainforth, Doncaster until 2009. He is
suffering from a variety of ailments including mild dementia and walks with a stick following recent hip surgery after a car accident.
He claimed to have acted with "professionalism and decorum" at all times and said the women were either mistaken or had been lying. His barrister Vanessa Marshall said: "This is clearly a very sad day for Dr Islam. As a convicted man he knows that the final stage of his life is ruined."
She said a large majority of his hundreds of patients held him in high esteem and had the 'utmost respect' for him: "Some of them still want him to be their doctor today despite this trial and despite the jury's verdicts," she said.
Judge Lawler said the evidence showed Islam, had "deliberately targeted" a small number of vulnerable patients for his own gratification. "You abused your position of power, you knew some of them were vulnerable," he told Islam. "They kept their silence as complainants often do because they feel they would not be
believed and they feared the consequences."
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