Victorian doctor jailed for rape

A Victorian doctor who raped a woman seven times in one night and photographed some
of the assaults has been jailed for six years.
Bendigo GP Arvind Sharma, 37, was known to the victim and they had had consensual
sex three times before the assaults in December 2006.
On the night of the incident, the pair met up after going out separately and arrived
at Sharma's Bendigo home at about 4am, the Victorian County Court heard.
Sharma later admitted being very drunk while his victim said she was a "bit tipsy".
Stating she was unwell, she went to lay on his bed.
He lay beside her but she rejected his advances and said she did not want to have sex.
When Sharma touched her again, she did not resist.
The court was told he thought she was willing and continued assaulting her,
photographing some of it using his mobile phone camera.
Last month, a jury found Sharma guilty of seven counts of rape and three of indecent
assault.
The jury was told the victim pretended to be asleep throughout the assaults, hoping
Sharma would stop.
She said she did not complain because she was frightened of him, though judge Frank
Shelton concluded the evidence of her fear was not strong.
Judge Shelton acknowledged Sharma had a high professional standing in the medical
community and his patients were still happy to consult him.
He said Sharma's crimes had had greater repercussions for him than they would for
other members of the community.
"Your professional career in which you have invested so much time and effort and in
which you are extremely competent, has been ruined," Judge Shelton said.
"This is, obviously, a tragedy for you and for Bendigo, given the well-known
difficulty of attracting medical practitioners to the country."
The judge also noted the four-year delay in resolving the case and that the
offending occurred in a private, rather than professional context.
Sharma's registration as a medical practitioner was suspended upon his conviction
and it is not known if he will be allowed to practice in future.
Sharma's supporters sobbed in court as he was jailed for a minimum of four years.