A former nurse accused of abusing three female patients and a student nurse says he was only performing medical procedures.
Ali Khamis Moh’d was a clinical nurse specialist at Norwest and Nepean Private Hospitals in Sydney, where he treated patients requiring surgery in the intensive care unit and coronary care unit.
The 44-year-old is on trial in Parramatta District Court after pleading not guilty to five charges of intentional sexual touching without consent and three charges of sexual intercourse without consent.
The eight charges, which relate to alleged offences between December 2018 and March 2022, have been aggravated because the four women were under his authority at the time.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Sarah Beaumont told the jury that Moh’d was teaching a 21-year-old nursing student how to listen to bowel sounds with a stethoscope when he grabbed her underwear, peeled it off her skin and looked at her genitals.
He is accused of abusing a 58-year-old patient for two days by inserting his finger into her anus while giving her an enema and inserting his finger into her vagina while shaving her groin for surgery.
While Moh’d was attending to a 25-year-old patient who had undergone heart surgery, she was asked to inspect a wound in her groin area.
While massaging the wound, he allegedly touched her vagina before inserting his fingers, Ms Beaumont told the jury.
Ali Khamis Moh’d is accused of sexual misconduct while working as a clinical nurse specialist
That patient started crying after leaving the room, before calling her doctor to ask what the proper procedure was for massaging a groin wound.
She filed a complaint with the hospital before going to the police.
The jury was told of alleged conduct towards a fourth patient, a 67-year-old woman who had been admitted for heart surgery.
After she showered, Moh’d helped put stickers on her body, which was connected to a heart monitoring machine.
While doing this, he allegedly touched her breast and pinched her nipple.
“You have nice breasts for someone your age,” he is said to have said.
“Fuck off, you’re embarrassing me,” the patient reportedly said before slapping his hand away.
The former nurse has pleaded not guilty to five counts of intentional sexual touching without consent and three counts of sexual intercourse without consent (stock image)
That same day, after she complained of back pain, he made her sit on the bed and gave her a back massage with cream.
“You can touch me too if you want,” he is said to have said.
Ms Beaumont said Moh’d tended to be sexually attracted to the female patients he treated and expressed those interests.
She said jurors should consider whether the nurse’s actions were carried out for legitimate health reasons.
“A sexual purpose has no place in real medical treatment,” she told the court.
According to defense attorney Linda Barnes, her client denied sexually touching or having intercourse with the four women.
“In short, Mr Moh’d argues that any contact he had with the complainants was for a medical purpose, that is, health or hygiene purposes or educational purposes,” she told the jury.
Moh’d worked as a clinical nurse with patients undergoing surgery in the intensive care and coronary care units of Nepean Private Hospital in Sydney
He rejected the prosecutor’s allegations that any sexual acts had taken place or that he had made sexually suggestive comments to the women, Ms Barnes said.
One of the key issues would be the honesty and reliability of the complainants, including their memories and perceptions of events, jurors heard.
Moh’d appeared in court as an innocent man who had never previously been charged or convicted of any other offence, Ms Barnes said.
The trial with Judge Ian Bourke continues on Wednesday.