A family doctor sexually assaulted three women patients at his surgery, a jury has heard.
Dr Habeeb Latheef was giving the women a “sensitivity test” when he placed his penis into their hands as he stood behind them, the court was told.
Taunton crown court heard the three sexual assaults happened over a four-year period before the last victim contacted police shortly after being assaulted.
William Hunter, prosecuting, said the married GP, now 48, was carrying out tests on the patients who stood with their backs to him and their hands behind their backs. He said the doctor then placed a number of objects in their hands like a pen, key, his finger – and his penis.
He said two of the women did not report the matter to the police for some time – but the last victim did so within an hour of leaving the Hendford Lodge medical centre in Yeovil, Somerset.
Hunter told the jury the final alleged victim, a 37-year-old woman, went to see Latheef in December 2011 with a stiff neck and headache that had lasted for nearly a week.
Latheef, of Yeovil, did a sensitivity test to check the feelings in her hands, it is claimed.
Hunter said: “She was stood up. He was close behind her. She had her hands behind his back. He put a pen in her hand. She felt that. He then put a small key in her hand, she felt that.
“He then put his finger in her hand. She was able to easily recognise each item. Then he out his penis in her hand. He did this more than once. It felt different to all the other items. She knew it was a penis. She was shocked.
“She asked him what he was putting into her hand. As she turned around the defendant was bending over and zipping up his trousers. The defendant said it was his finger.
“She is a mature woman with two children … She knows what was put in her hand was not the defendant’s finger, it was his penis. She left the surgery. She was upset and shocked.”
Hunter said she contacted a friend and within 45 minutes of the start of the appointment with the GP, she rang the police.
Latheef was arrested the next day and denied the allegation. He told police he was “kicking himself because he should not have been lazy and should have conducted the test from the front”.
Two more women came forward alleging Latheef had assaulted them in a similar way in 2008 and 2011.
Hunter said: “This is not a case in which the victims are making a mistake. It is a case in which they are independently of each other either telling the truth or telling lies. They have no reason to lie, the defendant has.”
Latheef denies three charges of sexual assault between February 2008 and December 2011. The trial continues and is due to last eight days.
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