One woman’s fight to convict Bendigo’s evil paedophile doctor
Dr David Frederick Miller’s sick acts have haunted an Aussie town. Now, there is one final insult. Warning: Distressing.
EXCLUSIVE
When 14-year-old Kaye Maher went to see a doctor fearing she was pregnant, she expected help and care.
Instead, she found herself in the hands of yet another predator.
Kaye grew up in Bendigo, Victoria as a quiet child who loved sport and reading. But at age eight, she began being sexually abused by extended family members.
“In 1977, I feared that I was pregnant as a result of the abuse. I was 14 years old and in utter terror,” says Kaye, now 60.
“I reached out for help. That’s how I ended up in that clinic with Dr David Frederick Miller.
“Once I disclosed what had occurred I thought I would be safe. But Dr Miller ended up being a monster.
“He told me that I was not pregnant and that he would teach me how to have sex without getting pregnant.”
“He used me for his own pleasure. He destroyed what shred of trust I had ever had in people, especially doctors.
“It was like I had fallen into deep water and put my hand up for help, only instead of saving me, the hand that arrived just pushed me further down under instead.”
The doctor had asked Kaye’s mother to wait outside. He then molested Kaye in her grey and white school uniform.
After the appointment ended, Kaye’s distress was obvious and she soon disclosed the rape in the clinic to her mother.
Kaye’s regular family doctor was then contacted for help, but his response was to say, “Oh, don’t be silly. Doctors don’t do that sort of thing.”
Now, it can be revealed that Kaye’s depraved abuser – who raped and sexually abused at least 11 victims, some as young as 10 – will live out his days in comfort at a NSW residential aged care facility.
This year, Dr David Frederick Miller was found to have committed 13 offences.
Prior to this, he had already been convicted of sexually abusing four patients at his Bendigo clinic, two of whom had come to his clinic seeking help following other sexual abuse.
In 2023, across three special hearings, three juries found that Dr Miller abused an additional seven victims including a five-year-old girl.
He was described by Judge Dempsey as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” for his “vile, unconscionable and deplorable offending” but due to his “cognitive decline” he was declared unfit, and granted unconditional release.
Instead of suffering in jail, the 80-year-old is expected to live out his days in a care facility.
Now Kaye Maher, one of Miller’s earliest victims, is speaking out, supported by the #LetHerSpeak campaign.
After experiencing abuse from Dr Miller in 1977, followed by not being believed by another doctor, Kaye retreated into silence.
Then in 1983, The Age newspaper reported that Dr David Frederick Miller had been found guilty of molesting a 13-year-old patient, in very similar circumstances. He was sentenced to 15 months jail.
The reporting was vile, describing Miller as “a caring doctor who was generous with his time”, adding that the Judge Tolhurst accepted “that Miller was the best general practitioner in the Bendigo area” and “it would be an enormous waste of his skills” if Miller were struck off the medical register.
Kaye was 20 when that news story broke, and despite its tone, the conviction emboldened her to seek out a counsellor.
“The first counsellor didn’t believe me. She said ‘no, I think you’ve misunderstood what he did to you, it was probably just a standard internal examination’,” said Kaye.
“I had opened up to get support. After that, I just shut down.”
It would take another eight years for Kaye to muster the courage to try again with counselling.
This time, when Kaye disclosed to a specialist sexual assault CASA service in Victoria, she was supported.
“That was huge, absolutely huge. It re-energised me and I decided to go to the police,” she said.
Kaye reported in 1992, age 29. The following year she was told by police “it was not in the public interest to pursue the matter” and that it would be “unfair” to Miller “after all this time” to lay charges.
“I thought ‘what the hell does that mean? Not in the public interest?’ I felt absolutely enraged.”
This reporting was made possible by the LetHerSpeak campaign. Click here to donate
Kaye contacted the local media, and leaned on the Office of Public Prosecution to review the police decision.
“I wanted the Bendigo community to know what was being said,” Kaye said.
But when the DPP reviewed the matter, they also concluded “there was no reasonable prospect of conviction” and Kaye was forced to accept that the case “wasn’t going anywhere”.
But months later the phone rang.
It was Detective Greg Murphy on the line. He told Kaye that two other women – sisters – had come forward with very similar allegations against Miller which meant Kaye’s case was being reopened.
While Miller was ultimately acquitted of the charges in relation to the sisters the allegations did not surprise Kaye.
“It’s just awful to think that he would just do this over and over again … but I felt like there was a chance that I might get justice that he might be held to account,” she said.
It was now 1997 – 20 years since the original abuse.
That same year, the issue of doctors sexually abusing patients was in the media, following allegations that a Canberra doctor had molested multiple patients in similar circumstances.
Commentator Bettina Arndt had sparked controversy after penning a column in the Sydney Morning Herald saying that the act of molesting a patient – including a 10-year-old girl – by rubbing their genitals attempting to induce orgasm was “not a war crime” and “in another context would be loving and pleasurable act”.
Adding insult to injury, the Canberra doctor was ultimately granted a permanent stay of proceedings, after successfully arguing that because he had destroyed all patient files, he was unable to mount a fair defence as he had no access to documents to rely on.
The decision set an extraordinary precedent, one that David Miller in Bendigo would soon adopt himself.
“He told the court that records of my visit in 1977 had been destroyed and [because of the ACT precedent] it was deemed prejudicial to Miller to have to stand trial if he didn’t have access to those records,” says Kaye.
“So in 1997, my trial was aborted. It was just beyond belief. I was told ‘that’s the end of it’ – all because the medical records are presumed to have been destroyed.”
‘I couldn’t believe records could just disappear’
But Kaye Maher had not come this far just to accept that answer.
Her mother, Win, had instilled a passion for social justice, and in the intervening years, Kaye had worked as a welfare worker in the disability and community services sector.
“I couldn’t believe that records could just disappear. I would have thought that there’d be some sort of mandate that doctors would have to keep them. I thought ‘I have to explore this’,” she said.
Kaye discovered there was no legal requirement for doctors to preserve records, only a recommendation.
“I wanted to embark on changing that and getting some laws or some legislation around ensuring some accountability about records keeping,” said Kaye.
“And that is where things took a turn.”
Kaye rang the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) and the clinic which had allegedly destroyed her records.
It was now 1998, over 20 years since the abuse had happened.
“I was told by the manager of the clinic, Nicole, ‘well, they haven’t been destroyed, the records are probably still here.’ And by the next business day, I had a copy of that medical record in my hand,” Kaye said.
But that wasn’t all Kaye discovered at the clinic.
“I was told there was no record of any prior attempt to locate my records. Not the CIB, not the prosecution, no one had tried to locate them. They had all just assumed Miller was telling the truth.”
“I was furious. I was absolutely furious because there’s so much invested, and all I had to do was make one phone call, and I got the records.
“A trial has been aborted over this! Right then, I knew then that the police really screwed up. They’ve screwed up big time here,” she said.
The medical records also corroborated much of Kaye’s police report, including that she had visited in the time frame she claimed, reported sexual abuse, and feared pregnancy. In the notes Miller wrote who the other offender was, and that Kaye had indicated at the visit that she had been suicidal.
He added his own opinion, accusing Kaye of “looking for attention”.
Armed with her medical notes, Kaye then lodged a complaint about the botched police investigation with the Ethical Standard Department (ESD). The police denied any negligence and the ESD did not make any adverse findings.
“So me being Kaye, I then lodged a complaint with the ombudsman about the ESD, and that found that the ESD hadn’t even bothered to take my statement,” she said.
Meanwhile, by 2004 another two victims of Dr David Miller had come forward.
The first was a 16-year-old girl who in 1980 had reported back pain to Dr Miller. She had seen him since age six, and had also revealed sexual abuse to him.
Miller asked her to fully undress including her underwear, he weighed her, then he sexually assaulted her.
The next was an 18-year-old who in 1979 had visited Dr Miller complaining of a persistent bladder infection. He then raped her, telling her she was “a bit frigid”. Court documents obtained by news.com.au show she was revolted and reported loss of self esteem, difficulties in relationships, mood swings, depression and anxiety as a result.
Finally going to trial
By 2004, including Kaye, a total of six patients had made formal police complaints about Miller.
He’d been convicted of one case in 1983, and acquitted of the allegations involving the two sisters in 1997. Now Kaye’s allegation, and the allegations involving the 16 and 18-year-old patients were ready to proceed.
“It took from 2004 to 2007 to get to trial. I thought ‘is this ever going to happen? How does he get to play the system like this? How does the system allow him to play it, and play these games?’,” Kaye said.
“Finally, in May 2007, we were ready for trial.”
By then Kaye was just shy of her 44th birthday. She had been fighting for three decades, since age 14.
Then the day before trial, Miller entered a guilty plea to the three counts against the three teenage patients.
His lawyers argued he should not serve jail time and “offensively” the DPP also did not recommend jail time.
But the judge took a different view, and sentenced Miller to three years jail, with 2.5 years immediately suspended meaning Miller would serve just six months jail for the abuse of Kaye, and the other two teenage patients.
“Some time was better than no time,” Kaye said. “It didn’t make up for everything, but it was better than nothing.
“But may I add the arrogance that he clearly, well, it appeared that he thought he was going home because he was quite shocked when he was given a term of imprisonment.”
Another seven women
Today, after the removal of a suppression order, news.com.au can reveal the result of a three-year investigation, conducted by the LetHerSpeak campaign creator, Nina Funnell.
Since 2007, when Miller was convicted for sexually abusing Kaye, another seven women have come forward and another 14 charges were laid.
Earlier this year, Miller was declared unfit to stand trial over those cases, but this year, across three special hearings – all of which had non publication orders attached – three juries found that he had committed 13 of the 14 offences against victims aged five to 39.
Many of the assaults occurred in Bendigo clinics with patients in the 1970s and 80s, often by Miller digitally penetrating their vaginas, usually under the guise of a medical procedure.
In one case Miller was so brazen he sexually abused a patient, with her mother on the other side of the medical curtain.
The judge described him as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.
If his crimes were committed today, Miller would have faced charges of rape.
“We better check if you have any other issues,” he said to one girl who visited with a skin condition on her foot. He then removed her underwear.
One victim described Miller as an “evil perpetrator”, shedding tears.
A second woman said she felt “angry and disappointed” that Miller could not be locked up due to his unfit state.
“He should be jailed for life,” she said.
A third woman said she was “betrayed in the deepest way”.
“My spirit is crushed to the core,” she said.
Judge Dempsey told the court it was hard to imagine a “graver breach of trust”, which had left a trail of “human wreckage”.
“It was vile, unconscionable and deplorable offending,” he said.
“I cannot condemn it enough.”
Despite the comments, the judge was lawfully unable to impose a jail sentence due to his mental decline. Instead Miller was granted unconditional release. News.com.au understands he intends to live out the remainder of his days in an aged care facility in NSW.
“He has escaped a period of custody while we’ve had to struggle for decades for what has happened to us,” said Kaye in response to the most recent revelations.
“If you take on the role of a doctor, you go to work each day you put your suit, and there is an expectation within your community because of the status you have, that you will perform in a certain way, and a young girl is in your office, and you turn around and you sexually abuse her, you rape her, it’s just evil.”
“Whether he’s lived a good life, a happy life or whatever, I don’t know, and I don’t really care. But he’s lived a life of freedom, and that doesn’t seem fair.
Kaye Maher reclaims her voice
Earlier this year Miller applied for an additional 10 year suppression order to be made over all matters – including Kaye’s – which if successful would have meant Kaye could not speak out till 2033.
She would be 70 and Miller – if still alive – would be in his 90s.
Kaye and Nina Funnell, the creator of the LetHerSpeak campaign attended court to oppose the 10-year-order being granted, and were successful.
Kaye wants to speak out under her real name and says it’s imperative for the community to understand these crimes. She has waited 46 years to tell her story in full.
“Back in 2007, the day after he was convicted, there was a letter to the editor by a reader who was upset that the newspaper was covering an unpleasant topic,” said Kaye.
“I found that really odd. I thought, ‘where’s the compassion?’ For someone to be upset about what they read, rather than upset about what happened to children, well I’m sorry it’s upsetting you while you’re eating your breakfast, but we are adults here, we need to talk about this issue.
“I want people to understand.
“I lost a lot and I was so fearful of so much, and that’s what he did and what he’s done to so many.
“But one thing he hasn’t taken away from me is my fight. And my sense of humour. It can be pretty dark sometimes, but he hasn’t taken that away from me.”
On Kaye’s arm she displays a tattoo. It reads “le firinne’’ – which is Irish for “with truth”. Below it, another tattoo of a soundwave – a recording of Kaye’s own voice - saying the words “I Speak”.
“With truth I speak,” she explained.
“I get frustrated when I look back, and I think, did the medical board stuff up here? Did his colleagues stuff up? Where were the warning signs? Where was the accountability? Where did it go wrong and how?
“And they’re the questions that really haven’t been answered. And for me, the impact often has been about how people have seen me. They see you as angry or sad or not engaged with the world.
“At 14, I just wanted to be held like a baby. At 20 I just wanted to numb my brain. Later in life, I wanted to be heard. And that’s harder than it sounds.
“And that’s when the anger set in. And it led to the most unfortunate labels and interventions. Sometimes that would mean that I needed to be medicated. And sometimes that treatment could be quite brutal.
“But what I want to say to survivors is if you’re going down the path of survivorship, it’s your path to walk down. It’s not anyone else’s. It’s yours.
“And you can take that in whatever direction you need to take. It is not a one size fits all. It can look different.
“We need to constantly be looking back and forward and making sure that we’re getting it right.
“And we need to be asking survivors if we’re getting it right.”
Kaye has also asked the Victorian Government’s Restorative Justice program to engage with Miller on her behalf.
She wants to meet face-to-face to ask him just one question: why?
- Additional reporting by Laura Placella
This reporting was made possible with the support of the LetHerSpeak campaign. Click here to contribute to support the ongoing legal and advocacy work of the campaign.
Nina Funnell is a Walkley Award winning freelance journalist and the creator and manager of the #LetHerSpeak and #JusticeShouldntHurt campaigns.
Know more? Contact ninafunnell@gmail.com
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