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Doctor testifies in ex-bishop’s indecent assault case

File photo: Larnaca court

A doctor testified on Thursday that he vividly recalls the allegations of indecent assault made by his then 16-year-old patient against former Bishop of Kition Chrysostomos.

The doctor confirmed that he visited the young girl’s house in 1981, on a Saturday, and proceeded with a valium injection to try and calm his patient who had become hysterical. He stated that the young girl, soon after the injection, said that the bishop attacked her on the sofa in the office. His statements are in line with the plaintiff’s testimony made in late May.

Former Bishop of Kition Chrysostomos is on trial for assaulting a woman, aged 16 at the time, in 1981. He has entered a plea of not guilty and maintains his innocence.

The doctor told the court that: “She said that he [the bishop] pressed himself on top of her and kissed her, and she then began shouting – afterwards he opened the door for her to leave, telling her not to say anything to anyone, because what had happened was not important.”

During cross examination, the defendant’s lawyer sought to undermine the credibility of the doctor’s statements by arguing that he could not possibly remember the claims which he is making, 41 years after the alleged incident.

The doctor replied however that he could never forget what had happened, an incident which he never shared with anyone else – citing doctor-patient confidentiality.

“It’s not an incident which you can forget, it does not happen often, I cannot hide that whenever I saw the bishop it brought back the memories,” the doctor told the court.

The accuser, now aged 57, testified in late May that she first visited the bishop’s offices after her father died, as she was instructed by her mother to visit the bishop and collect the 200 hundred pounds which was given to orphans at the time.

The woman said she went another four times to the bishop’s office, where each time he locked the door behind her. It was during the fifth visit that the alleged assault took place, as she claimed that the bishop shoved her, pressed himself on top of her and kissed her on the lips.

She began repeatedly screaming “let me out”, at which point she claims the bishop got off her and opened the door. The plaintiff further stated that she was distraught upon her arrival back home, and a doctor was called in to administer an injection.

 

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