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Canton de ZurichFor headaches, the doctor massaged his client’s buttocks and breasts
A practitioner from Winterthur was sentenced for touching a 19-year-old young woman. Banned for life from exercising, he will appeal this judgment.
The trial took place at the District Court of Winterthur.
20 minutes
At the end of August 2020, a family doctor saw a 19-year-old client in his practice in Winterthur (ZH). The consultation took place at 7:30 p.m., outside official opening hours. After offering her wine, which she refused, the practitioner and his client began by sharing tea.
According to the “Landbote”, the young woman suffered from headaches. To relieve her, the forties would have suggested a full body massage. Before the District Court of Winterthur, the young woman will indicate that it was rather a massage of the neck which had been proposed to her.
“State of shock”
The doctor, who is neither a masseur nor a physiotherapist, then asked his client to take off her top. “I will now abandon my role as a doctor and treat you as a colleague. I don’t want you to report me followingwards,” he told her. According to «Country boats»the practitioner had already been denounced for a similar case, but the procedure had been abandoned.
The man therefore began to massage the neck, then the back, then the buttocks of the young woman. While he assured the Court that he had asked for his consent at each stage, the victim confided for his part that he had been “in a state of shock”, unable to move or speak.
The doctor finally lowered the young woman’s panties and touched her private parts. What the defendant disputes: he would have simply lowered the garment so as not to soil it with the massage cream.
Erect
When he asked her to get on her back, the client claimed an urgent desire to go to the bathroom, then that she suddenly had to go home. But the man added that he wanted to crack his back.
Allowing herself to be “so that the affair finally ends”, the young woman placed herself in front of the doctor. The latter would then have grabbed her breasts from behind to lift them. The victim also reportedly felt the practitioner’s erect penis. An incident that the defendant also denied.
Banned for life
Before the District Court of Winterthur, the doctor’s lawyer asked for an acquittal, reports the “Landbote”. While the civil party demanded nearly 250,000 francs in compensation, he accused the latter of greed.
If the practitioner did not resort to violence, for the judge, he should have realized that his client was in a state of shock, unable to resist. The magistrate therefore considers that the accused took advantage of it.
The 40-year-old was finally found guilty of sexual acts on a person incapable of discernment or resistance as well as sexual harassment. He received a suspended fine of 21,600 francs and a fine of 2,000 francs. He must also pay the victim 3,000 francs for non-pecuniary damage.
The man also received a lifetime ban from practicing. He announced his intention to appeal this judgment.