Patient tells jury she was indecently touched by East Lancashire doctor

3:48pm Thursday 24th July 2008

A PREGNANT housewife admitted to hospital after a miscarriage told a jury she was indecently touched by a doctor as she lay in her hospital bed.

The woman said she had already been upset over the loss of her baby and was distressed over what she claimed happened at the hands of Mannan Masud.

Masud, 41, of London Walk, Blackburn, is also accused of sexual assaults on two other patients on the Edith Watson Ward at Burnley General Hospital.

Masud, a qualified doctor in Pakistan who was on a clinical attachment where he was not allowed to examine patients, denies all three sex assault charges.

The woman told the jury a man she had not seen before came to her bedside and she presumed he was a doctor.

She told the jury he asked her about her temperature and she said it was fine.

She said: “He asked me if he could touch my tummy and I pulled the covers down. He touched my tummy and then he touched my forehead and then he touched my hand and then asked if my feet were hot.”

The woman said the man did not refer to clinical notes and the incident lasted no longer than two minutes.

Questioned by Robert Elias, prosecuting, the patient said the next morning at breakfast three other women were discussing “the bogus doctor” and added there was mention just to watch out.

She said: “I immediately started thinking back if there was anything unusual. I said there was a doctor that came to see me. He had a purple shirt on. They just stopped and one of the ladies said ‘that’s him.’”

Cross examined by Kristina Montgomery, for Masud, the housewife said it was not true that the defendant introduced himself and explained he was working under Mr Sandilands.

Miss Montgomery said: “I am suggesting that he didn’t press your tummy, didn’t touch your forehead and the only time at which he touched your hand was on shaking your hand on his departure.”

The woman denied these claims.

Miss Montgomery continued: “I suggest you have become influenced by what the other ladies have told you about their experiences.

"In your mind you have imagined you too were touched by him.”

(PROCEEDING)