Second woman alleges rape by Dr Sahadeo

Jan 23, 2012 News

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– to contact Medical Council

A second woman has indicated that she will speak to the Medical Council of Guyana about being allegedly raped by Dr. Rama Sahadeo 29 years ago.
The woman has indicated that she will contact the Council within a few days.
She had testified to the Council in 1997, but will have to give a new statement because of a recent court ruling that the suspended physician must be given a hearing.
The woman, accompanied by her younger sister, alleged that she had visited Sahadeo’s clinic in 1983 to have an abortion. She was 23 years old at the time.
She is alleging that she was molested after being given an anesthetic which rendered her helpless.
The woman said that she confided in her sister but kept the ordeal concealed from their mother, since they came from a strict upbringing.
According to the sisters, they were emboldened to disclose the elder sister’s plight in 1997, after similar allegations against Dr. Sahadeo surfaced.
Kaieteur News was told that while the sisters are upset that their ordeal is still not behind them, they are determined to testify to prevent the physician from getting his licence back.
The sisters are said to be even more encouraged by reports that another woman and her husband have contacted the Medical Council with similar allegations against Sahadeo.
This woman claimed that she was also drugged and raped at Sahadeo’s clinic some 35 years ago. She was 17 years old at the time.
The woman’s husband, who said he had accompanied his wife to Sahadeo’s clinic, has also indicated that he is willing to testify.
The couple had both given statements to the Medical Council and to Help and Shelter in 1997 after similar allegations against the embattled physician had surfaced.
The woman told Kaieteur News that officials from the Medical Council contacted her recently about giving a second statement, since the court has ordered the Council to give Dr Sahadeo a hearing into his suspension.
Last week, the alleged victim expressed outrage that Sahadeo’s suspension may be lifted.
“I am still upset although it happened so many years ago. The Medical Council has called me. If I have to go to court I will do it. I am not a young girl anymore, I’m a grown woman. At 17, I was really scared; whatever has to be done, I will do it.
“I am willing to face him and my husband is willing to stand by my side.”
The couple stressed that their determination to testify is driven by a desire to see justice done, rather than by financial gain.
Their allegation is that the incident occurred when she was 17, and had become pregnant for her boyfriend, to whom she has now married.
The woman’s husband stated that he had accompanied his then girlfriend to the clinic. He claimed that he had asked the physician to “take care of my girlfriend…this is my future wife,” before leaving her at the clinic.
The woman alleged that it was then that she was given an anesthetic, and then raped. She reportedly confided in her boyfriend immediately after leaving the clinic.
But the woman said that she never confided in her relatives out of fear of her very strict father.
However, they eventually confided in officials of Help and Shelter and the Medical Council some 14 years ago after similar allegations against Sahadeo surfaced.
However, their statements, along with others collected by the Council into the accusations against Sahadeo, were destroyed in the Health Ministry fire.
In 1987, Dr Sahadeo was charged and acquitted for the alleged rape of a 22-year-old housewife who had visited his clinic for an abortion. She alleged that the abuse occurred after she was given an anesthetic.
The woman and her husband had filed a complaint to former Minister of Health Noel Blackman and to the Commissioner of Police.
Then in April 1997, a 25-year-old patient alleged that Sahadeo raped her when she visited his Thomas Street, North Cummingsburg clinic to have an abortion. The woman claimed that she was given an anesthetic which left her helpless to defend herself.
Sahadeo, 54, at the time, was charged with rape on June 3, 1997, but left the country on the very day that he was scheduled to appear in court. This prompted former Chief Magistrate K. Juman-Yassin to issue a warrant for his arrest.
An attorney representing Dr Sahadeo later submitted a medical certificate for the accused explaining his absence.
The charge against Dr Sahadeo was later dropped after the patient indicated that she no longer wanted to testify.
In the midst of the 1997 rape investigation, two other women made similar claims of sexual misconduct against Dr Sahadeo to the Medical Council of Guyana and to Help and Shelter. Both women claimed to be former patients, and alleged that the molestation occurred in 1976 and 1983 respectively, when they visited the physician’s clinic to have abortions.
Testimony was given in September 1997 before Medical Council Chairman Dr. Walter Chin, (now deceased); Guyana Medical Association President Dr. Max Hanoman; and leading gynecologist Dr. M.Y. Bacchus (also deceased).
However, Dr Sahadeo, who was reportedly still overseas, never appeared before the Council to defend himself, and the Council suspended him from working here, pending the outcome of the hearing.
But last November, the High Court ordered the Medical Council of Guyana to grant embattled physician Dr. Rama Sahadeo a hearing into claims that he raped two women who went to his clinic for abortions.
Kaieteur News was told that the decision was made by Justice Dawn Gregory, who ruled that the Council had to conduct the hearing first before Sahadeo could be suspended.
However, a source said that the physician’s name will remain off the list of registered physicians pending the outcome of the investigation. The court had also denied Sahadeo’s application for damages against the Medical Council.
In a letter and brief comments this week, the 68-year-old Sahadeo refuted reports in a recent Kaieteur News article which stated that he had applied to the Council to resume practice.
“Let me state categorically that I never made any such application. I am retired and therefore the entire thrust of your article is false and misleading.”
He had also added in his letter that “nobody can prevent me from making a living in this country.”

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