‘I know my boundaries’ insists doctor accused of sex assaults

Shrivas Kini, 62, said he could not understand why the women had accused him of touching them inappropriately.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court has heard that Kini assaulted the patients, including a 17-year-old girl, during appointments in Pontefract and Leeds between 2003 and 2010.

But Kini, giving evidence yesterday, denied the women’s claims and said: “I treated them with respect. I treated them with professionalism. I know my boundaries.”

He added: “I am no more tactile than anyone else.“

The court has heard that Kini, of Grange Croft, Sheffield, was arrested in December 2010 after a patient claimed that he had touched her inappropriately during laser hair removal treatment.

She said she had attended five appointments at Kini’s clinic in Stanningley, Leeds, during which he became increasingly tactile, hugging and kissing her.

The jury has been told that another woman made a complaint about Kini in 2006, claiming he had hugged her while she was topless as she underwent treatment at a clinic in the West Park area of Leeds.

Kini’s third alleged victim claimed that he touched her inappropriately while he was working as a GP in Pontefract in 2003.

The woman, who was 17 at the time, said she was seeking treatment for stomach pains when Kini lifted up her top and bra to perform a chest examination.

She claimed the doctor cupped one of her breasts and later put his arms around her and cuddled her as she went to leave.

Prosecutor Sharon Beattie asked Kini: “Three ladies, three locations, three different years, all saying you hugged them. Why?”

The doctor replied: “You need to ask them. I don’t know. I have no answer to your question.”

Miss Beattie said: “They actually thought you were a very good doctor...”

“I am a good doctor,” Kini interrupted. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Miss Beattie continued: “What they could not stand was your problem, as (one alleged victim) put it, of not being able to keep your hands to yourself.”

Kini said he qualified as a doctor in India in 1976 and had also worked in Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, King’s Lynn and Barnsley.

He told the court that he was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and worked in A&E departments before becoming a GP.

He began offering laser treatments in 2003 and retired in February last year.

Miss Beattie said: “All these three ladies trusted you to behave properly towards them.

“You took advantage of a 17-year-old.

“You wormed your way into the trust of those two other ladies and when you got them softened up, you assaulted them.”

Kini replied: “No, I totally deny that.”

The doctor said he was “shocked” that he had been reported to the police.

He said that he spoke to clients in “friendly terms” during treatments to “relax them as much as possible”.

Asked if he ever held their hand, he replied: “If they are in pain or discomfort or anything, yes I do.”

Kini denies charges of indecent assault, sexual assault and assault by penetration.

The trial continues.