Dr Ali Khorami: Sleep technician laughed during abuse evidence, court hears
A brave young woman who was indecently assaulted by a perverted Sydney sleep tech has called out the “emerging serial rapist” for laughing and smirking in court.
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A brave young woman who was indecently assaulted by a perverted Sydney sleep tech has called out the “emerging serial rapist” for laughing and smirking in court.
Self-proclaimed tantric healer Dr Ali Khorami, a former sleep technician at Glebe’s Woolcock Clinic, was found guilty of indecently assaulting the 22-year-old student in February last year, after a judge-alone trial last month.
The victim approached police after hearing news reports that Khorami assaulted five female patients — aged between 16 and 29 — in July and August 2018, in which he was found guilty of 22 charges.
These disturbingly included drugging a patient with sleeping pills, rubbing a patient’s vagina over her underwear, touching a patient’s breasts and masturbating in the room.
On Monday the Iranian-born GP was sentenced by Richard Weinstein SC in the NSW District Court to a further nine months on top of his existing jail term, with his earliest release pushed to December 23, 2024.
Justice Weinstein SC told the court the initial sentence would have been longer if the court had known the offending was over six months, not six weeks.
“(He) would not have been regarded merely as an offender … but an emerging serial rapist who posed a significant danger to women,” Justice Weinstein said.
The woman told the court on Monday she felt sick every time she looked at her left hand after finding out Khorami had rubbed his penis on it while she slept at the clinic.
“You spoke to me at length about your supposed experience with energy healing and you deceptively used the access to my medical records to gain my trust,” she said.
He waited until she had fallen asleep before sneaking into her room under the guise that a cord had come loose, before stretching over her body and her open palm for about a minute.
She told the court he asked if her legs were aching and offered to perform “energy treatment”, which she declined.
Khorami‘s “laughing and smirking” face was etched into her mind, she said.
“Seeing you laughing and smirking during the closing statements of the trial when the other girl’s evidence was being referred to was infuriating and I fear this image will never leave me,” she told the court in between tears.
“You have shown no remorse for your actions for the pain and trauma you have caused me or the other girls. I worry about the day you are released from prison – that you will continue to find a way to continue your sick and perverted ways.“
At the time, sleep technicians were able to enter a patient‘s room alone, a policy which has since been amended by the Woolcock Clinic to require two people be present.
A Woolcock Clinic spokeswoman said several other safety measures were introduced including installing an independent surveillance system and commissioning an external audit.
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