Physio Hany Bebawy granted stay to return to work despite sexual assault charges

Despite facing charges, a Melbourne physio accused of sexually assaulting female patients has been granted the green light to return to work under strict “gender restrictions”.

Melbourne physio Hany Bebawy has been allowed to return to work under strict conditions after he was charged with sexual assault. Picture: Supplied

A Melbourne physio facing sexual assault charges has been allowed to return to work albeit under strict conditions that he cannot treat female patients.

Hany Bebawy, who runs three clinics, has been granted a stay on a suspension imposed by the national physio board, enabling him to return to work under strict gender restrictions after he was charged with two counts of sexual assault earlier this year.

Court documents reveal Mr Bebawy allegedly “massaged” a female patient’s breasts and “moved her underwear aside to touch the outside of her labia” in December 2022, prompting the board to impose restrictions on his registration while police investigated the claim.

In June 2023 a second female patient alleged that he gave her a “therapy massage on the buttocks and upper thigh”, with the board modifying his restrictions to make them “more precise”.

His registration was suspended in April this year when charges were laid.

Mr Bebawy vehemently denies the allegations, with court documents revealing he intends to fight the charges.

In his bid to VCAT earlier this month to return to work, Mr Bebawy suggested that either his registration be reinstated with the second lot of conditions or that it be restored with “gender conditions that he not treat female patients”.

The physio has been granted permission to return to work despite allegations he sexually assaulted two female patients during treatments. Picture: Supplied

While the board conceded that it “no longer regarded him as posing a serious risk”, it fought to uphold the suspension on grounds of public interest.

“There is a strong public interest in a physiotherapist, who has been charged with sexual assault of a patient during a consultation and who is the subject of a related complaint by another patient,” the board submitted to the tribunal.

The board also argued that there were “no conditions” appropriate to impose “in circumstances where criminal charges call into question (Mr Bebawy’s) fitness to hold registration”.

But VCAT deputy president Ian Proctor shut down submissions that granting a stay would negatively affect public perception of the industry.

“VCAT can have regard to the fact that the reputation of the physiotherapy profession is already very high,” Mr Proctor said.

Melbourne physio Hany Bebawy has been accused of sexually assaulting two female patients. Picture: Supplied

Moreover, letters from Mr Bebawy’s accountants submitted to the tribunal said that his business could go into “liquidation and bankruptcy” within the next four months due to Mr Bebawy bringing in “70 per cent of the business to his practice”.

Despite protests from the board that the accountants’ evidence “failed” to explain how his absence could result in bankruptcy, Mr Proctor said that it was “not a statement that chartered accountants would lightly make”

VCAT granted Mr Bebawy’s stay, allowing him to return to work under gender conditions on his registration that he not treat females.

Mr Proctor said that refusing the stay would “prejudice” Bebawy and that he had an “overwhelming incentive” to comply with his new conditions.

“Mr Bebawy’s application that the Suspension Decision be stayed partially succeeds, with his application that his registration be restored with the Second Conditions applying refused, but with his registration to resume with gender conditions to operate,” Mr Proctor said.