A student nurse and a previous nurse who was charged with sexually abusing three female patients have claimed that the former nurse was only carrying out medical treatments.
At the private hospitals in Sydney’s Norwest and Nepean, clinical nurse specialist Ali Khamis Moh’d took care of patients who were slated for surgery in the intensive care and coronary care units.
The 44-year-old entered a not guilty plea to three counts of having sexual relations with someone without permission and five counts of purposeful sexual contact without consent.
Now, he is on trial at Parramatta District Court.
The eight allegations are more severe because the four women were under his supervision at the time of the alleged offence, which occurred between December 2018 and March 2022.
Crown prosecutor Sarah Beaumont informed the jury today that Moh’d seized the student nurse, 21, and pulled her pants away from her skin, exposing her genital area, all the while instructing her how to listen for bowel sounds with a stethoscope.
He is accused of sexually abusing a 58-year-old woman over the course of two days by sticking his finger into her vagina while she was shaving her groyne in preparation for surgery, and sticking his finger into her anus when she was receiving an enema.
Moh’d was requested to examine a wound on the groyne area of a 25-year-old female patient when she was receiving post-heart surgery care.
Beaumont testified before the jury that he touched her vagina as he was rubbing the wound.
After he left the room, the woman broke down in tears and called her doctor to ask how to massage a groyne wound.
Prior to contacting the police, she lodged a complaint with the hospital. In relation to a fourth patient, a 67-year-old lady in for heart surgery, jurors were informed of suspected behaviour.
Moh assisted with adhering stickers to her body that were attached to a heart monitor after she had taken a shower.
He allegedly stroked her breast and squeezed her nipple while he was doing this. He’s believed to have said, “You have nice breasts for someone your age,” The patient allegedly responded, “Get lost, you’re embarrassing me,” and then swatted his hand away.
He sat her down on the bed and massaged her back with some cream the same day she complained of back discomfort.
It is stated that he said, “You can touch me too if you want to.”
According to Beaumont, Moh’d tended to act on his sexual attraction to female patients while they were in his care.
She stated that the question of whether the nurse’s actions were taken for appropriate medical reasons would be posed to the jury.
She informed the court that “a sexual purpose has no place in genuine medical treatment.”
Defence attorney Linda Barnes stated that her client denied touching any of the four ladies inappropriately or engaging in sexual activity with any of them.
“In short, Mr Moh’d’s case is that any contact he had with the complainants was for medical purposes, that is for health or hygiene purposes or for educational purposes,” she stated to the jury.
Barnes stated that he had denied the prosecutors’ allegations that specific sexual acts had occurred or that he had made sexually suggestive remarks to the women.
Jurors heard that one of the primary concerns would be the complainants’ credibility and veracity, as well as their recollections and interpretations of what happened.
According to Barnes, Moh appeared in court as an innocent man who had never been accused of or found guilty of any prior crime.
Tomorrow is the next day of Judge Ian Bourke’s trial.
