Pediatrician sentenced to prison for sexual abuse

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The Essen Regional Court sentenced a pediatrician to two and a half years in prison for sexual abuse

Photo: Bernd Thissen/ dpa

A former pediatrician has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting young patients.

The accused had confessed to having touched three girls in intimate places during treatment in a Gelsenkirchen hospital.

In addition to the conviction, the Essen district court also ordered that the 35-year-old should not treat any female patients for three years.

He committed the crimes between August 2019 and January 2021. The doctor had been employed in the children's ward in Gelsenkirchen.

Three girls later reported massages on the breasts and in the genital area and reported him.

During a search of his apartment, 26 child and youth pornographic files were also confiscated.

One of the 14 and 15-year-old students at the time of the crime had spoken to the police of panic.

"I was really scared of the way he was touching me," she said.

She even snuck out of the hospital after the incident and stayed outside for about an hour.

"I didn't dare go in anymore."

The man initially denied the allegations in the process, but then admitted everything after questioning one of the girls.

That had a mitigating effect.

He wants to have already sent his doctor's card back to the medical association.

The verdict includes, among other things, sexual abuse using a treatment relationship.

It is not final.

jso/dpa/AFP