Suburban GP fronts court for sexually assaulting patients

A grubby GP groped a young female patient’s buttocks, called her a “pretty lady” and touched the genital area of another during his vile offending.

Dr Ahmed Cassim has avoided jail for groping two young female patients while working as a GP in Melbourne.

A grubby GP who groped two female patients, including calling one a “pretty young lady” after touching her buttocks, came perilously close to going to jail.

Dr Ahmed Kamil Mohammed Cassim denied any wrongdoing but the County Court found him guilty of four charges of sexual assault which happened at two suburban clinics in Whittlesea and South Morang in July and September 2020.

He was on Friday sentenced to a three-year Community Corrections Order.

Judge Angela Ellis said the first offence took place in July 2020 when a 19-year-old female came to see Dr Cassim for an exemption to apply for a driver’s licence during Covid restrictions.

She also had a bloated tummy and was sometimes constipated. The patients complained of mild abdominal and back pain as well. During an examination, Dr Cassim touched her lower back in a pushing motion and worked on her inner thigh after she pushed her leggings down.

One of Dr Ahmed Cassim’s patients he groped came to see him for a number of issues, including back pain.

The patient said he worked in a pinching motion in her lower thigh and buttocks and at one stage, it felt like he was using his whole hand. Dr Cassim did not wear any gloves.

Sometime after the consultation, Dr Cassim told her that she was a “pretty young lady”. He denied touching her naked buttocks.

The second patient he groped was in September of that year.

The 18-year-old went to see him in relation to knee and hip pain and to seek a medical certificate for school to enable her to wear sports uniform.

While she lay on her back, she refused Dr Cassim’s request for her to remove her pants but indicated she could roll them up.

She said his fingers moved up her inner and outer thighs in a circular area, then to her groin

“She gave evidence that your hand moved up to touch the labia and on the inside of her thigh using your fingers to poke and prod,” Judge Ellis said.

The patient was scared and felt like having a panic attack.

Dr Cassim then moved up her right leg and did the same thing over her track suit. This went on for a minute or so.

He repeated the act after she flipped over on her stomach and pulled up her jumper to just above her belly button.

She felt distraught upon returning to her car.

One patient told the court she was untrusting of medical practitioners and was afraid to attend appointments after Dr Cassim’s actions.

She has since being diagnosed with multiple health issues including depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder and had begun seeing a psychiatrist. Dr Cassim’s offending has impacted on her relationship with her family and partner.

The second patient said instead of being able to celebrate being an adult after completing year 12, she felt as if Dr Cassim has “broken her spirits”.

She has a horrible feeling that her body was not her own and has issues trusting health professionals.

Dr Cassim migrated to Australia from India in 2010 and has since worked as a doctor in Whittlesea and Coburg. His registration was suspended in March 2021 after charges were laid.

Judge Ellis said a non custodial sentence could be imposed given Dr Cassim’s lack of prior criminal history, personal circumstances, loss of a long standing career, his contribution to the community and the hardship a jail term would have on his family.

The doctor has the support of his family and medical colleagues and has attended to his mental health needs by seeking counselling and complying with medication, she said.

“At the end of the day, only you are to be blamed for this Dr Cassim,” she said, referring to his offending.