A doctor nearly killed his partner after injecting her with drugs during a series of "bizarre" exorcism ceremonies, a court heard.
Hossam Metwally, 60, made dozens of video recordings of himself administering fluids through a cannula to Kelly Wilson, 33, while chanting as part of a “dangerous perversion” of the Islamic Ruqya ritual, it was said.
A jury at Sheffield crown court was warned about the disturbing nature of the content before it was shown extracts from 200 clips the doctor recorded over four years, mainly at his home in Grimsby, north-east Lincolnshire.
Some of the recordings show Ms Wilson strapped to a bed, in others she is in a bath, and some show a white liquid being administered - on occasions using an electronic device.
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In one clip from 2016, Metwally, a hospital anaesthetist, can be heard chanting and after he revives his partner with smelling salts, she asks “have you raped me?” and requests the police.
Metwally, who is originally from Egypt, told the jury he performed rituals on Ms Wilson to exorcise evil spirits, called Jinns, but said he only used holy oil and did not inject anaesthetics.
Following an eight-week trial, the jury on Thursday took just two hours to find the father-of-four guilty of endangering Ms Wilson’s life through the unlawful and deliberate intravenous administration of anaesthetics or sedative agents and drug possession offences.
Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told the jury he had "never been involved in a more bizarre case" in his 41-year legal career and said Metwally had been convicted on the “clearest possible” evidence.
Judge Richardson lifted a reporting restriction on Friday, allowing the trial to be reported for the first time, after Metwally admitted two further charges of voyeurism.
Opening the case for the prosecution in June, John Elvidge QC described how an investigation began after Ms Wilson was taken to the Diana, Prince of Wales Hospital in Grimsby – the hospital where Metwally also worked – on July 4, 2019.
Paramedics had arrived at Metwally’s home to find her in a deep coma, on the brink of a cardiac arrest and with a fluid line inserted in her chest.
Mr Elvidge said: “She was critically ill. It was obviously an emergency situation. The medical team at the hospital feared she may suffer a total organ failure and the serious possibility that she might die.”
The prosecutor said Metwally “chose not to reveal that he and Ms Wilson had been engaging in an exorcism ritual on the evening of July 3 2019 during which he had administered anaesthetic sedative agents and then had to give her oxygen support”.
The court heard Metwally qualified as a doctor in Egypt and worked in Saudi Arabia before coming to the UK in 1996 and Grimsby in 1999.
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He worked in Goole, Scunthorpe and Grimsby and ran his own pain clinic in the port town.
Metwally met Ms Wilson in about 2013 when she was a student nurse. The jury heard she had a history of depression and her health deteriorated so she stopped working as a nurse.
Mr Elvidge said: “Dr Metwally gave people the impression that he was supportive of Kelly Wilson and yet he was willing to fuel her appetite for drugs which went well beyond what her general practitioner was prepared to supply.
“Put another way, he knowingly fed her addiction.
“More than that he habitually administered potentially lethal anaesthetic drugs to perform Muslim exorcism rituals known as Ruqya on Ms Wilson.
“That administration and the use of restraints were his own dangerous perversions of such rituals.
“The prosecution say Dr Metwally is a charlatan and he abused his position as a doctor to gain her confidence and encouraged her to become intoxicated using dangerous substances that rendered her into such a state that she forfeited all control over her body to him.”
The jury heard how Metwally held a “vast stock of drugs” at his Laceby Road home, including ampoules of ketamine, propofol, fentanyl and Diazemuls.
An imam told the jury the Ruqya is a valid practice but would never involve drugs or sedation.
He said the case was “quite disturbing” and watching the video clips made him feel “really upset”.
Metwally was found guilty of the intravenous administration of anaesthetic drugs to sedate Ms Wilson which endangered her life; the supply of various controlled drugs or medicines and the possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.
He also admitted a charge of fraud during his trial.
Judge Richardson remanded Metwally in custody until he is sentenced on September 20 and told him a prison term “of some substance” is inevitable.
