Doctor said he could help 'my low sex drive' before sexual assault, witness testifies

A Winnipeg woman says her first few visits to an Elmwood walk-in clinic were normal, so she was shocked when, she alleges, the doctor sexually assaulted her, saying it was a treatment for low sex drive. 

Details that might identify the woman can't be included under a publication ban. 

She says she was a walk-in patient of Dr. Amir Ravesh in 2017 when the alleged assaults happened. 

Ravesh, whose full name is Amir Houshang Mazhariravesh, is facing 11 charges of sexual assault from separate complainants and one charge of obtaining sexual services for consideration.

Ravesh, 51 at the time the allegations surfaced in 2017, was released on bail in November but cannot practise medicine and must follow other conditions. None of the allegations against him have been proven in court.

He sat at the counsel table in the Court of Queen's Bench with his lawyers as the woman testified Tuesday.

The woman says her first few visits to You Medical Centre were not unusual. She didn't have a family doctor, and visited as walk-in patient seeking help for pain in her lower abdomen and when defecating.

On her second-last visit, in the fall of 2017, she says Ravesh asked her to pull her pants down so he could give her an anal examination. She said that was a "red flag," but she returned a few days later because she wanted answers about why the yeast infection medication he had prescribed didn't seem to be working. 

But, she testified, when she returned for the last time, on Oct. 19, 2017, he interrupted her questions and told her to pull down her pants so he could do another anal exam. 

She told court that with her pants around her knees, bent over an examination table, Dr. Ravesh moved his fingers from her anus to her vagina.

She testified that on a previous visit, she had told Ravesh she had a low sex drive. On the second-last and final visits, he told her he could help her with that, she said. 

Alleges assault escalated

"He started talking about my low sex drive and how he could help me," she told court. 

She testified that he started moving his fingers slowly, then sped up, and finally reached up under her T-shirt, undid her bra and touched her breast. 

"He leaned against me and he told me, he said, 'By the way, you have a nice ass. You should use it more. I wish I could use it,'" she testified. 

Then, she said, the doctor stuck his ungloved hand in her mouth and told her to suck on it. When she didn't, she said, he moved his fingers in and out of her mouth. 

"He asked me if I liked it and I said 'no.' And he told me that's not good," she testified Tuesday.

"He asked me if I wanted him to stop and I said yes. So he continued for a little bit and then he stopped. And then I got up and I pulled up my pants," she told court. "He was … watching me." 

She said the doctor came up behind her and placed her hand on his pants. His penis was erect, she told court. "He told me to rub it." 

Then, she said, the doctor sat down and pulled her onto his lap. 

She said she felt "pretty much helpless" as he rocked her back and forth on his lap. "He told me to rub myself against him," she said. "I got up and he turned me around, so now I'm on his lap and facing him. 

'I can't tell anybody'

"He told me that I can't tell anybody because this is a private practice, and if I told anyone they wouldn't understand the way that he's helping me.… I'm a special patient here and that he likes me and that's why he's helping me," she testified.

At some point during the alleged assault, she testified, a receptionist knocked and started to open the door. She said the doctor prevented her from opening the door to prevent the nurse from seeing that her pants were off. The receptionist asked a question about scheduling, she said. 

The doctor told the witness to come back again the next day because there would be a new receptionist. 

She said she understood that the receptionist might be worried about long the examination was taking. She couldn't say precisely how long it took, but said it was likely 20-30 minutes. 

'Story you're telling is entirely false': defence

Defence lawyer Marty  Minuk focused on the length of that final appointment, what time of day it happened and the dates of other appointments in his cross-examination, pointing out inconsistencies between her testimony and the doctor's files.

The woman acknowledged the examination could have lasted less than half an hour. "When something like that happens, it can feel like a lifetime," she testified.

She was unclear on some other dates and what happened during earlier appointments. 

Minuk pressed on whether she'd asked for a vaginal exam at some point, and whether she told Ravesh that she wanted to be a regular patient of his. 

She broke down on the stand as Minuk asked if she had realized at the time she'd been sexually assaulted. 

Later, Minuk said "I'm going to suggest that the story you're telling is entirely false."

"It's entirely true," she responded. 

The trial continues Wednesday.