A family doctor practising at Havant in Hampshire, has been accused of groping five female patients including a terminally ill cancer sufferer.
47-year-old Dr Mohan Babu carried all these out at the hospital where his wife also worked. He allegedly assaulted the women, all of whom asked for new GP, between June 2019 and July 2021.
A Portsmouth Crown Court allegedly asked one patient who had terminal pancreatic cancer to take off her top before complimenting her figure. He also grabbed a receptionist’s breasts and told her he was a “lion going to eat her”.
Five other women including the receptionist complained about his “over-familiar” behaviour but criminal proceedings have not been brought regarding them, it was said.
Prosecutor Miranda Moore KC said;
“Nine women from the same surgery and a receptionist from his previous surgery; there’s the pattern. What the women have in common is that they were all vulnerable.”
Babu, who had 20 years of experience, began working at Staunton Surgery as a locum doctor in April 2018. He was recommended by his wife, Dr Aroline Rodrigues, 43, who is a GP at the surgery.
Jurors were told four months later, the first complaint came, “quite quickly” followed by another. The 57-year-old cancer patient, who has since died, said Babu offered to give her a hug at her first appointment.
At the next consultation, the doctor allegedly told her: “You have a lovely figure and lovely breasts.” The court heard how he also asked her to lift her top to “listen to her heart” but he “lingered while examining her breasts and pulled her nipples”.
Ms Moore said:
“She was shocked, she froze, and she looked at the ceiling. He proceeded to move his hands under her lower body clothing, under her skirt. She asked him to stop.
“He pulled her closer to him and she could feel he had an erection. She saw his zip was undone and she could see his erection.”
The court heard at this point Babu said to the woman: “I’m helping you, you need to touch it so I can help you.” The youngest complainant, a 19-year-old girl, visited the doctor in February 2020 as she was struggling with anxiety.
Jurors were told Babu called her “a beautiful girl” before slowly counting the freckles on her back. As she got up to leave, he allegedly took her hands and kissed her on the cheek.
Babu is also accused of assaulting a married mum who had visited him after a neck injury. The court was told he groped her breasts and then said “Ohh I’m not having a bad day” before asking for a kiss.
Babu, from Emsworth, Hants, stopped working at Staunton Surgery in July 2021, at which point he was under police investigation. He has denied seven counts of sexual assault in relation to five patients. The trial continues.