FULL STORY: Breach of Trust
A Calgary psychiatrist with a controversial history in apartheid-era South Africa has been ordered to begin a five-year prison term for sexually molesting three patients in Alberta. The Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed Dr. Aubrey Levin’s bid for a new trial and said he must turn himself in by 10 a.m. Friday.
Levin was convicted last October and released on bail. As seen in a 16×9 investigation last year, the key piece of evidence in his trial was a secret videotape shot by one of Levin’s victims—a man wearing a wristwatch containing a hidden camera. The tape showed Levin unzipping the man’s trousers and fondling his genitals for several minutes during a court-ordered psychiatric session. The victim was an offender on probation, known only as RB.
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Lawyers for Levin, 75, argued that the presiding judge made numerous errors in dealing with testimony and evidence presented at the lengthy trial. But the appeals court rejected the application as without merit.
The 16×9 story exposed Levin’s background in South Africa, where he was known as “Dr. Shock” in some media accounts that told of his use of electric shock “aversion therapy” on young army recruits believed to be homosexuals or drug users. The country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission wanted him to testify but Levin had already immigrated to Canada.
The story revealed that his controversial practices were brought to the attention of medical authorities in Alberta, but Levin was nonetheless awarded a licence to practice by the provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was a university professor, and was also contracted by the courts to provide psychiatric services to hundreds of criminal offenders.
During the trail last year, Levin’s wife Erica was accused of trying to bribe a juror with an envelope of cash at a train station near the courthouse. She pleaded not guilty and her trial is set for later this year.
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