A former emergency department doctor who sexually abused two male patients after “straying” onto another ward has been jailed for four and a half years.
Tayabb Shah was found guilty of five counts of sexual assault by unanimous verdicts at Nottingham Crown Court after a six-day trial at which he denied any wrongdoing.
The court was told the 39-year-old, who rejected claims that he had touched the victims’ genitals, committed the assaults on four separate days over a two-week period in the autumn of 2020.
The Crown said the married father-of-two, formerly of Embley Road, Sherwood, Nottingham, targeted his first victim on an acute ward at the city’s Queen’s Medical Centre after the patient had been passed fit for discharge by a consultant.
Shah, who was working as a junior locum doctor, told jurors he was of Pakistani nationality and had studied for his medical degree in China before initially working in the United States.
During his evidence, Shah falsely claimed to have been carrying out legitimate examinations to build up points for an appraisal.
He also told the court that after being employed at a hospital in Galway, Ireland, he began work in Nottingham in January 2020.
Opening the case against Shah at the start of the trial, counsel for the Crown, Ian West, told the court: “The prosecution say that this defendant, a trust grade junior doctor at the Queen’s Medical Centre sexually abused two vulnerable men.
“He made his way onto the (acute) ward and put forward the pre-text that he had been sent to help. He hadn’t.”
Shortly after the first alleged assault, the court heard, the complainant confided in a relative, who contacted the patient’s consultant.
Describing the subsequent inquiry to identify the doctor responsible for the assault, Mr West added: “No one quite knew who he was.
“By chance when they were getting close to identifying Mr Shah he was seen with another patient.
“When the nurses spoke to (the second complainant) he said he thought it was a proper examination taking place. He also had been sexually abused.
“But he also described that when he was in hospital a few weeks earlier the same doctor had done it twice more.”
Following the guilty verdicts, Detective Constable Kerry Stringer, from Nottinghamshire Police’s public protection unit, said: “Far from being the kind, caring, compassionate, responsible professional that his victims had the right to expect, Shah abused his position of trust for his own sexual gratification.
“He has shown no hint of regret or remorse and by refusing to admit to his crimes, he put his victims through the further ordeal of reliving what happened in front of a jury.
“I also hope the guilty verdicts delivered today brings comfort to both victims, who showed tremendous strength and bravery throughout the investigation and court proceedings.”
Dr Keith Girling, medical director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “As soon as Nottingham University Hospitals staff reported these very serious allegations about Dr Shah he was excluded from work.
“We did not renew his contract and we have assisted the police throughout their investigations.
“Dr Shah betrayed the trust that patients and their families place in us whilst they are in our care.
“Our thoughts are with his victims and their families, and I am so incredibly sorry that they were taken advantage of when they were so vulnerable.
“Dr Shah is not representative of the hard-working and kind staff at Nottingham University Hospitals and we hope that today’s outcome will help provide some degree of comfort to those he harmed.”
