A trial is underway for a Hawke's Bay doctor accused of stupefying and indecently assaulting his patients.
David Kang Huat Lim, 41, appeared in the Napier Distict Court this morning after pleading not guilty to five counts of stupefying and eight counts of indecent assault relating to four patients.
Police allege Lim assaulted the victims in a darkened surgical room, treatment and toilet cubicles while working at a Hastings practice in 2014.
In his opening address, Crown prosecutor Steve Manning said Dr Lim "took advantage" of the young men whom he was treating for minor ailments by administering a sedative drug, Midazolam, to induce them into a semi-conscious state.
"His true intention was not a medical one but rather so he could take advantage of the effects of the sedation on his patients."
Manning said three of the four victims, all of whom were Maori or Pacifica, were not native English speakers which made them "vulnerable to the very attentions that Dr Lim had for them."
He also said the Crown's case would put to the jury the "inherent unliklihood" that four men completely unknown to each other would each come forward having had broadly the same experiences in the same practice with the same doctor.
The trial is set to continue into next week.