Doctor shattered patients’ trust, judge told

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This article was published 12/09/2020 (2008 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former doctor convicted of sexually assaulting six of his patients shattered their trust when they most needed comfort, a judge was told Friday.

Dr. Amir Ravesh, 54, stood trial last year accused of sexually assaulting the women during medical exams at his Elmwood walk-in clinic.

“A doctor’s office is a sanctified place for any patient,” Crown attorney Mark Kantor told Queen’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne, recommending Ravesh be sentenced to 12 years in prison. “There is an expectation they will be safe there, but they weren’t.”

Richard Wolson, Ravesh’s lawyer, slammed the Crown sentencing recommendation as “outrageous and unprecedented,” and instead urged Champagne to consider a sentence of three years, the same sentence handed down in Calgary earlier this week to retired neurologist Kevin Hoyte, convicted of sexually assaulting 28 women over a 30-year period.

“In my view, (the Crown recommendation) is an overreach of huge proportions,” Wolson said. “I understand swinging for the fences, which we have all done, but it is an overreach that can’t be supported.”

Wolson argued the current coronavirus pandemic supported a shorter period of custody for Ravesh, who is diabetic and has a family history of heart disease.

“A penitentiary could not be a worse place to be during a pandemic,” Wolson said.

Ravesh, whose full name is Amir Houshang Mazhariravesh, will be sentenced later this month. He remains free on bail.

In victim impact statements provided to court, several of the women said they no longer trust doctors and now have intimacy issues with their male partners.

One woman said she suffers panic attacks and was so worried she would run in to Ravesh somewhere she sold her house and moved to B.C. to live with her parents.

“You took advantage of your title,” the woman said. “You took advantage of people looking up to you for help.”

Police arrested Ravesh in October 2017 after a 19-year-old woman visited Health Sciences Centre for treatment and reported she had been sexually assaulted a day earlier. News coverage that followed resulted in other victims stepping forward, alleging sexual misconduct dating back as far as 2013.

Ravesh was removed from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba’s list of practising physicians the day police publicized his arrest in October 2017.

He had been licensed in Manitoba since July 2010, according to the college.

The woman whose complaint prompted Ravesh’s initial arrest, testified at trial he digitally penetrated her vagina and anus at the same time, moving his fingers at increasing speed, saying: “This might help your sex drive.” Ravesh, the woman told court, grabbed her breast, put her hand on his erect penis and told her she had “a nice ass, you should use it.”

Another victim, a sex-trade worker, testified Ravesh asked her if she had anal sex with clients, and told her he frequented escorts. The woman told court Ravesh said if she wasn’t comfortable with anal sex “there was probably something wrong down there,” and proceeded to digitally penetrate her anus for several minutes.

Another victim said she started seeing Ravesh on the recommendation of her then-fiancé. She said she had no complaints about Ravesh until her marriage broke down and Ravesh told her he had feelings for her. Ravesh, she said, told her he was only in his marriage for his children and promised to make her “more sexually happy” than her current partner.

Ravesh asked her to feel his heart and when she refused, he put his hand under her shirt and over a breast.

The woman said she felt pressured by her ex-husband to continue taking their children to Ravesh. She testified Ravesh offered to pay $40 for medical records she required in her divorce proceedings, telling her: “I’m doing a favour for you, I’d like you to do a favour for me and see me on a weekly basis.” The woman said she interpreted the comment as sexual.

At the conclusion of Friday’s hearing, Ravesh was about to address court, saying, “The thing I’m going to say is going to surprise my lawyer,” before Wolson interrupted him and asked for a recess to speak to Ravesh privately.

When court resumed, Ravesh no longer had anything to say.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca