By Vinnie O'Dowd - BBC News - 17/11/2023 - [UK] - [Wayne Sefton Davis] A "highly respected" doctor has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing three of his patients.
Dr Wayne Sefton Davis, a GP in Salford, faces allegations which date to the 1990s and 2000s.
The women claim they were sexually abused by the doctor while he carried out examinations on them, with prosecutors alleging there was no medical basis for his alleged actions during the examinations. Dr Davis, 67, denies all wrongdoing.
The defendant's barrister, Daniel Janner KC, told Manchester Crown Court the three examinations "were carried out properly and legally and were not sexually motivated".
Vanessa Thomson, for the prosecution, said the complainants were from the Orthodox Jewish community and "were not brought up learning about sex and sexual behaviours at school as might be expected in secular society".
The three women, jurors heard, had "limited knowledge and put their complete trust in a respected man they had been told 'knew best' provided fertile ground for Dr Davis to abuse each of these women".
Dr Davis was a "highly respected" doctor who the women had sought help from, Ms Thompson said.
He was arrested in 2020 after the allegations were made against him.
The first complainant, Woman A, said she went to see Dr Davis in 2006 after suffering pain in her crotch and he made a "highly inappropriate comment", before touching her intimately.
"She had no idea what was happening," Ms Thomson said.
"In her words to the police, she thought it was 'bananas' what he was doing."
Giving evidence, Woman A alleged Dr Davis said to her "that he would teach me to teach my husband how to give me pleasure" and then allegedly assaulted her again.
Under cross-examination, Woman A was asked why she went to see him for subsequent GP visits in 2007 if she had been abused.
"I was too scared," she replied. Woman A reported her allegations to police after disclosing them to a beauty therapist. The therapist urged her to seek advice from Migdal Emunah, a charity that raises awareness about sexual abuse.
Jurors were told a gynaecologist described the doctor's actions as a "bizarre concept with no grounding in gynaecological practice".
Dr Davis is expected to say the practice was "proper procedure" and his actions were not sexually motivated.
'Embarrassed and humiliated'
Another woman came forward to claim she had been abused in the 1990s following news reports of Dr Davis' arrest. Woman B said he touched her intimately, which made her feel "uncomfortable" but she trusted the doctor.
The complainant said the examination had "stayed with her all these years" and had left her "embarrassed and humiliated". Prosecutors said the alleged examination was "without any medical basis".
Dr Davis is expected to say he has "no specific recollection" of performing the examination but if he did carry it out, it would have been at the woman's request.
A third complainant, Woman C, claimed Dr Davis encouraged her to find her "G spot" while carrying out an examination on her in the 2000s. She too felt "uncomfortable" and "wondered whether this activity was arousing him sexually", the court heard.
A gynaecologist who reviewed the woman's medical records said they were "deficient in detail and non-specific" and there was "no justification" for intimate examinations going undocumented.
Ms Thomson said: "Encouraging a woman to pleasure herself in a doctors' surgery could only be with a sexual motive in mind." The doctor is expected to deny Woman C's allegations ever happened.
Dr Davis, of Old Hall Road, Salford, denies two counts of assault by penetration, one count of indecent assault, one count of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm.