Melbourne: An Indian-origin doctor was on Wednesday sentenced to six years in jail after being convicted of raping
a woman seven times in one night and taking her photographs
during the assault.
A County Court jury found 37-year-old Arvind Sharma
guilty last month of seven counts of rape and three counts of
indecent assault over the incident which took place in
December 2006, according to media reports here.
Sharma and his victim, who was 24-year-old then, were
known to each other and previously had consensual sex.
The convictions do not relate to his work as a general
physician (GP) in Bendigo.
The two were night-clubbing in Bendigo before returning
to Sharma`s house where the assault took place, the court
heard.
Sharma took photographs of the victim during the
rape.
While jailing him for six years with minimum time to
serve in prison being four years, judge Frank Shelton said the
woman refused the doctor`s advances while she was lying on his
bed. But when he persisted 10 minutes later, she did not
resist.
Sharma believed the woman to be drunk but she was only
pretending in order for him to stop, the judge said.
During cross-examination, the woman said she was scared
of Sharma but Shelton said that evidence was not particularly
strong.
Judge Shelton said Sharma was of good character
previously and had high standing in the Bendigo community.
He said Sharma`s jail term would have an effect on
Bendigo, given the documented difficulties in attracting GPs
to country areas.
The judge said there were several character references
including from patients of Sharma who said they were happy to
continue being treated by him even after the charges were
laid.
Several women cried, including Sharma`s fiancee who is a
pharmacist, as judge Shelton sentenced him.
PTI
