A man treated by a doctor accused of stupefying and indecently assaulting his patients has told a court he felt "ashamed" to tell his partner he had been touched during an appointment.
David Kang Huat Lim, 41, is standing trial before Judge Geoff Rea in the Napier District Court after pleading not guilty to five charges of stupefying and eight of indecent assault.
He is accused of administering the sedative drug Midazolam on four male patients before sexually assaulting them while working as a GP at The Doctors in Hastings during 2014.
Yesterday the court heard from a 29-year-old man who was treated by Lim after injuring himself at work.
The man had seen Lim on several occasions, the first being for minor surgery with another doctor, and told the court Lim had once touched his privates while he was sedated.
The court heard he was administered two doses of Midazolam in a second appointment after being told by Lim he needed his stitches removed. He said he woke up to the feeling of someone touching him.
"When I started to wake up I could feel someone was touching my penis and at the same time rubbing my stomach."
He said his pants had been pulled down to his knees, leaving his underwear exposed, and he had abruptly sat up to find Lim standing beside the bed.
The court heard Lim turned away from the bed, pulled the curtain closed and left the room; returning five minutes later to switch the lights on and ask if he was awake.
The man, who is not a native New Zealander, said he didn't tell anyone, not even his partner, because he feared no one would believe him.
"I was feeling embarrassed. I just didn't want to tell her... I felt ashamed."
He said he pulled up his pants and left straight away; going on to return with his partner for the next appointment.
Upon cross-examination Lim's defence counsel Harry Waalkens QC asked the man why he had returned to Lim when there were other doctors in Hawke's Bay.
"It just makes no sense that you'd go back and see this man if you believe he'd done these terrible things to you."
In response the man said he wanted to recover from his injury as fast as possible and that The Doctors was the clinic his work had taken him to.
Earlier this week the court heard from a young male saw Lim at The Doctors when he was 18-years-old.
He testified he was being treated by him for a dislocated finger when he felt Lim's hands go down his pants.
"I can remember lying on the bed and while I was lying there I felt his hand go down my pants.
His mother said she had heard her son cry out "You better not be touching my balls!" while he was behind a drawn curtain with Lim.
She said she entered the area with a nurse and saw her son was physically aroused under a towel that had been placed on his body from his chest to his knees. She said Lim was standing beside the bed.
The court heard the male's pants were neatly placed on a chair in the cubicle; a "tell tale" for the mother who told the court her son never folded his clothes, let alone neatly folded them.
"In my mind all the time I was thinking "Surely not, this is a doctor"," she said.
That night the mother said she noticed her son kept looking at her as if something had happened.
"I couldn't sleep because I thought "Oh my god. He's done something to him", and I just couldn't sleep because I had a gut feeling he took control of [my son] and myself."
On Tuesday the male cried as he described feeling "disgusted" and said despite the experience feeling dream-like he was "100 per cent' sure Lim had handled his private parts.
Yesterday the 29-year-old male also said he was "100 per cent" sure Lim had touched his penis and rubbed his stomach.
The court has heard Midazolam sedative used for moderately painful procedures to relax patients with an unusual but possible side effect of hallucination.
When Mr Waalkens suggested the experience had seemed like a dream the 29-year-old replied: "I woke up straight away."
On Monday Mr Waalkens said Lim "categorically denies" the allegations and that Lim being "overtly gay" created a situation "ripe for misunderstanding".
"We anticipate that it's likely each of these four young men recognised that when they came into the consultation they knew that he was demonstrably, overtly as I say, a gay person."
The 29-year-old man was yesterday asked if he had picked up on Lim being gay at the time to which he said he hadn't.
"He was actually different back then compared to today."
The man said he thought Lim's present appearance was very different to his appearance in 2014.
"He just looked like a normal man. I didn't even know that he was gay."
