GP gets just three month ban for drunken sex assault on woman

A doctor who forced himself on a woman while she slept near her children has walked away with a rap on the knuckles.

A VCAT tribunal has banned a doctor from practising for three months after he forced himself on a woman after a night out. Picture: Mike Keating

A drunk, married doctor who forced himself on a woman after a night out — as she slept near her children — has been given a rap on the knuckles and a short ban, more than five years after the horrifying sex assault.

Dr Juviraj Arulanandarajah was reprimanded and suspended for three months, after being found guilty of professional misconduct for lying on top of his former friend, and kissing, biting and groping her, by putting his hand down her pants.

The attack happened at Dr Arulanandarajah’s family home in mid-2015, after dinner and drinks, during which he consumed a lot of alcohol, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) heard.

The woman “woke at 4am to find Dr Arulanandarajah on top of her”, the tribunal panel was told.

“He sexually assaulted her then, and subsequently grabbed her arm in the bathroom, and also pulled her down on to a bed with him. These events occurred over the space of about 20 minutes. They gave rise to three charges of sexual assault,” it noted.

Dr Arulanandarajah was lying on top of the woman, who was sleeping on her stomach, “kissing and biting her neck and shoulder area … (his) left hand was … down the front of her pants”.

When she tried to get out from underneath Dr Arulanandarajah, she fell out of bed, causing a bruise to her thigh.

“(She) got up off the floor and asked Dr Arulanandarajah ‘What are you doing and where is your wife’?” the panel heard.

Dr Juviraj Arulanandarajah.

“(She) then went into the downstairs bathroom … and Dr Arulanandarajah opened the bathroom door wearing only boxer shorts, turned the bathroom light off and attempted to grab (her) arm. (She) told Dr Arulanandarajah to leave her alone and pushed past him and went back upstairs to the bedroom and shut the door … after about 20 minutes … Dr Arulanandarajah (was back) in her room … had pulled her down on to the bed and was trying to kiss her … repeating “come on … come on.”

Two months after Dr Arulanandarajah pleaded guilty to a single, rolled-up charge of sexual assault in December 2016, a magistrate imposed a conviction and sentenced him to an 18-month Community Correction Order (CCO), which included community work and alcohol rehabilitation.

“Dr Arulanandarajah admits he engaged in the conduct described … The victim provided a statement indicating that the incident contributed to many subsequent adverse events in her life. These include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression,” the tribunal noted.

After the court case, Dr Arulanandarajah moved with his family to remote Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, “to re-evaluate his work practices and lifestyle”, and keep working as a doctor.

He currently worked as a GP at a bulk-billing practice, treating mental health patients, domestic violence victims and addicts. He was also the only doctor in the Kalgoorlie region working as a mentor to medical students, the panel heard.

Born in Sri Lanka and raised in the UK, Dr Arulanandarajah had migrated to Australia in 2006 and started work as a doctor in Melbourne in 2012.

On his current clinic profile, he describes himself as “a bit of a geek,(who) likes Star Wars and comic books”.

The tribunal suspended Dr Arulanandarajah’s registration from February 22 to May 21 this year.

The Medical Board of Australia had decided twice in the past not to take immediate action against Dr Arulanandarajah, “first … after the charges were laid . . the second occasion was after he was convicted”, because it believed he did not pose a risk to others, the panel noted.

It’s understood his criminal conviction preceded an overhaul of health practitioner laws in 2018.

Before then, medical boards were stymied from taking immediate action over the alleged conduct of practitioners, unless they believed they posed a serious risk to patients or the public.

There were also delays because Dr Arulanandarajah had moved to Western Australia.

A spokesman for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) said, under current laws, if a registered health practitioner was facing criminal proceedings, its immediate priority was to take whatever regulatory action was necessary and open to it, “to protect the public until such matters are resolved”.