The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario says it will not pursue allegations against two doctors accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a medical student in 2011, because the complainant has declined to testify further.
Dr. Amitabh Chauhan and Dr. Suganthan Kayilasanathan were accused of drugging and then sexually assaulting the woman in a hotel room after a night of drinking and dancing at a Toronto club.
The College withdrew its allegations of “conduct unbecoming of a physician” and engaging in “disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional conduct” at the disciplinary hearing Monday. Chauhan and Kayilasanathan were acquitted of criminal charges of sexual assault in September 2014.
“As you are aware, Ms. X has already testified at both the preliminary inquiry and trial relating to charges of sexual assault by these two men. The process of testifying has been gruelling and has had a significant detrimental impact on Ms. X,” The college’s lawyer Carolyn Silver read from the letter submitted on behalf of the witness.
“Ms. X is simply not able to subject herself to the psychological, emotional and physical harm of another hearing.”
Kathryn Clarke, a communications adviser with the College, said it regularly serves summonses on witnesses, which creates a legal obligation for them to attend at the hearing.
“The College provides support to witnesses throughout the process in order to facilitate their participation in the process,” she said. “When a witness does not comply with a summons, the College can seek a court order to enforce the summons. ”
Clarke added that because of the “unique circumstances of this case,” where the witness had already testified twice in criminal proceedings related to the same conduct — the College was advised the witness was unable to subject herself to testifying at another proceeding.
“The College chose not to take steps to enforce the summons,” she said. “As such, as sometimes happens in these kinds of circumstances, the College was required to withdraw the allegations in the Notice of Hearing.”
Lawyers for Kayilasanathan and Chauhan had argued the College’s disciplinary hearing should be thrown out since the men had been acquitted of the criminal allegations in 2014. The hearing was expected to last four weeks.
Kayilasanathan is still an active member of the College and can still practice medicine in Toronto. He is facing unrelated allegations for sexually assaulting a patient in December 2010.
Chauhan used to practise medicine in Hamilton, Ont., but his license to practice medicine expired in 2011.
READ MORE: Two Ontario doctors found not guilty of sexual assault
In her 2014 ruling, Justice Julie Thorburn said while it was agreed that the two doctors had a “sexual encounter” with the woman in 2011, she was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman was drugged and did not consent to the encounter.
“I know this has been a long and emotional journey for all of you,” Thorburn said as she delivered her lengthy judgement on Thursday.
“I do recognize how difficult this may be for some of you in this room.”
Both Chauhan and Kayilasanathan told reporters outside court in 2014 that they looked forward to moving on with their lives.
VIDEO: Two GTA doctors were found not guilty of sexual assault. Marianne Dimain reports. (Sept. 25, 2014)
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the Crown said in 2014 the complainant, who cannot be identified, was “very disappointed” with the judge’s decision.
Thorburn said she found no evidence to support the Crown’s assertion that the two doctors planned to drug and sexually assault the medical student on Feb. 13, 2011.
She also said that the woman and the two doctors “willingly consumed a considerable amount of alcohol that evening and early the next morning” and that there was no evidence to corroborate the woman’s testimony that she was drugged or sexually assaulted.
Thorburn also noted that video surveillance showed the woman “appeared to be in full command of her physical movements” a few minutes before going up to the hotel room where the alleged assault took place.
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Further, Thorburn said that four text messages were sent from the woman’s cellphone around the time she testified she was unable to resist the alleged sexual encounter with the two doctors.
“She could not have composed and sent text messages if she were unable to move,” Thorburn said, noting that police were unable to retrieve the content of those messages.
Thorburn said that even if the woman did not or could not consent to a sexual encounter due to her condition, the two doctors could have thought she did.
“There is an air of reality to the accused’s claim that they had an honest but mistaken belief that (the woman) consented to the sexual encounter,” Thorburn said.Chauhan had also been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting another woman in 2003 whom he had a relationship with years earlier.
He was found not guilty on those charges as well.
With files from The Canadian Press and Adam Miller
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