By
Daisy CL Mandap
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| The verdict against the octogenarian doctor was announced at Eastern Court |
Stooped but still sprightly and mobile, 83-year-old
retired British doctor Brian Drew Apthorp was taken into custody earlier today,
Jul 2, after an Eastern Court magistrate found him guilty of two counts of
indecent assault against her former Filipina domestic worker, identified in
court as X.
The two charges which involved a slew of sordid sexual
assaults, happened while X was under Apthorp’s employ, from September 2018 to April
2019.
The defendant, said to be a multi-awarded doctor as
well as book author, was led away by police on orders of Magistrate Daniel Tang,
who set the sentencing on Jul 15, pending the submission of background and
psychological reports on Apthorp.
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Defense counsel Jonathan Midgely tried to stop Apthorp
being remanded in custody, saying he would be at risk if he was put in jail
because of his age and heart condition, but the magistrate was not dissuaded.
Magistrate Tang said that first, the case should have
been tried in “a different court”, indicating that it was actually too serious to have
been brought before the magistracy; and second, he was looking at a sentence of
more than a year.
But at Midgley’s request, the magistrate ordered that the Correctional Services Department make special arrangements for the defendant, “given his age and health condition.”
The defense counsel said he would apply for bail
pending appeal once the sentence is handed down.
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| One of the books written by Dr Apthorp, known as a pioneer in primary health care |
Interviewed over the telephone, X said she was happy that she was vindicated, especially since some of the Filipina workers who had worked for Apthorp before her, had viciously accused her on social media of being after the employer’s money.
“Natutuwa po ako
na naipaglaban ko hindi lang ang aking sarili, kundi pati na rin ang ibang
nauna sa akin na nagdusa din. Sana hindi na siya (Apthorp) payagang makakuha
muli ng domestic helper,” she said.
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(I am happy that I was able to fight, not just for
myself, but for all the ones who came before me and suffered as well. I hope he
would not be allowed to hire another domestic helper).
On being told how shocked Apthorp had looked while
being led away by the police, X, who has a partner and a child back in Laguna
province, said it could just be play-acting.
However, she added: “Naaawa din ako ng bahagya dahil ikukulong siya kahit matanda na siya,
pero dapat niyang papanagutan ang mga kasalanang ginawa niya.”
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(I feel a bit sorry for him because he will go to jail
despite his advanced age, but he should pay for all the sins that he
committed).
Human rights lawyers helping X have filed an
application for judicial review to question the police’s decision not to treat
the sexual assaults as a human trafficking case.
In the first charge, Apthorp was convicted of indecently
assaulting X in September 2018 in a bedroom in his house at 35 Shouson Hill
Road, in the guise of conducting a body check-up on her prior to her being
employed.
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The employer told X to lay on a bed, then pushed up
her shirt and squeezed her breasts. He then pulled down the helper’s shorts and
while pretending to conduct a pap smear, inserted his fingers into her genitals.
X fled the room after that. But when she told a co-worker,
Janice, about what happened, the other helper assured X that it was a routine
check-up which Athorp, a doctor, conducts on all his would-be employees.
The second charge covered several acts of indecent
assaults stretched over a five-month period, from November 2018 to April 2019. During
this time, X was ordered to give Apthorp daily body massages, front and back,
while he was stark naked.
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During these massage sessions the octogenarian would order
X to pinch his nipples while squeezing his genitals so he could get sexually
aroused.
In her two-day testimony in court last Mar 4 and 5, X
also spoke of a “whipping Thursday,” when the elderly employer would order her
to use different kinds of whips on various parts of his body, including a riding
crop which he wanted used on his nipples and genitals.
In his verdict, Magistrate Tang said he found X to be
a credible and honest witness. Since Apthorp chose not to give evidence to
defend himself, there was no way to gauge his credibility in the same way.
As for the supposed body check-up, Tang said “it was
obvious that X did not give consent. She was misled by the defendant.”
On the other hand, Apthorp, being a doctor, should have
known that what he did was not a proper examination as there was no one else inside
the room with them and he did not get her prior consent. The body check was also
not part of their employment contract.
Any right-minded person would have come to the same
conclusion, said the magistrate.
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| Shouson Hill Road, where Apthorp lives |
As for the series of assaults that happened in the last six months of X’s stay in Apthorp’s house, Tang said the helper was able to substantiate her allegation with a video recording she took of one of the massage sessions where the doctor appeared to have grabbed her hand and put it into his groin.
Though the video did not contain the alleged
masturbation she had spoken about, the magistrate said it was enough to support
her claim. Tang accepted that the video was inadvertently cut short when X sent
it to a friend for safekeeping before deleting it from her own phone.
Tang also said it was understandable why X did not
immediately seek help when Apthorp started the sexual assaults. She was
suffering from mental stress because she did not want to lose her job and cut
off her family financially.
“I find it logical and reasonable in her condition at
the time. Being a mother, she had to work in Hong Kong to support her family.
She also trusted Janice,” said the magistrate.
Finally, he dismissed suggestions that X was out to
extort money from her rich elderly employer. Tam said the $69,039.06 claim in
the Equal Opportunities Commission case that she filed against Apthorp was
reasonable.
Further, her demand for an apology in the case showed
she was not just after the money, said Tang.
“If it was only money she was after, she would not
have asked for an apology,” he said.
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