A schoolboy has described his disbelief when a doctor touched him sexually while he was sedated.
David Kang Huat Lim Photo: RNZ / Michael Cropp
David Kang Huat Lim is before the Napier District Court, charged with stupefying and indecently assaulting four male patients in 2014, while he was working at The Doctors, a clinic in Hastings.
The witness, who was 18 at the time, was the first patient to complain about Dr Lim. He visited the clinic in September 2014 with a dislocated pinky finger.
The court heard Dr Lim administered the sedative midazolam, and with the help of a nurse, relocated the finger.
Dr Lim then sent the nurse away while he monitored the patient's recovery.
The young man, whose identity is suppressed, told the court when he woke up, his school trousers had been removed and a towel had been wrapped around his waist.
Later, in a darkened consultation room, he said he could remember Dr Lim touching his genitals through his underwear.
He said Dr Lim also touched him intimately when he had to urinate.
He said he thought it was a dream at the time but later felt disgusted and embarrassed.
Dr Lim's lawyer, Harry Waalkens QC, said the young man was still under the effects of the sedation, which could cause hallucinations.
Mr Waalkens said the young man told Dr Lim he was hot, and asked for his trousers to be taken off.
He said Dr Lim had to help the young man urinate, because he was making a mess.
"You were urinating over the [floor], not in the bowl, do you remember that," he said. "Do you remember that you weren't holding your penis, and that's why the doctor held your penis to direct the urine into the bowl?"
He said he did not remember.
"It was one of those moments where you put your trust into a doctor, and yet here's him not even asking if he can hold my penis and help me go toilet," the young man said later. "He's a doctor. Everyone trusts a doctor... You don't expect them to do that."
The nurse assisting Dr Lim, Anna McKinley, said the doctor's bedside manner was almost flirtatious.
"He was making a lot of eye contact, he was laughing, giggling, he was prancing around and being very expressive with his hands," she said. "I would call it flirtatious."
After the procedure, and after she had been sent away, Ms McKinley said she heard the boy call out from within the cubicle.
"I heard [him] call out in a very distinct, clear voice 'why are you touching my balls'," she said. "I went onto autopilot, pulled the curtain back, noticed a stunned look on Dr Lim's face. It's like... a child being caught with his hand in the cookie jar."
Mr Waalkens suggested to Ms McKinley she did not like Dr Lim, and by describing him as flirtatious she was trying to put a negative spin on his character.
Ms McKinley said she was simply telling the jury the facts. She did not find Dr Lim helpful, or a team player, but she tried to get on with the job anyway.
She also told the court she had never seen a doctor take a patient to the toilet, and if it had been her, she would have made sure the patient was seated so she did not have to touch his genitals.
