Mauro Aguilar
07/24/2020 - 19:05
- Clarín.com
- Society
A phlebologist in Reconquista, in northern Santa Fe, was charged with sexually abusing four patients. Two other women have added testimonies about similar harassment in recent days, so that in the coming weeks the charges against the professional could be expanded. They are, in all cases, women between 20 and 45 years old.
Although he was going through the process in freedom, last Wednesday he was detained after communicating with the ex-husband of one of the complainants. The woman and her ex-partner were intimidated by the phone call , so the prosecution requested that they arrest him so that he would not hinder the investigation or try to elope. The judge accepted the request and the doctor was jailed for a period of 60 days.
The reported episodes occurred between 2013 and 2019 in a private clinic at Avenida Patricio al 700, in the town of Reconquista, where the doctor attended to other professionals.
Pablo G., 42, is also the medical director of a local sanitarium, although the prosecutor investigating the case confirmed that none of the reported situations occurred in that medical center.
There are six episodes involving four victims: two simple sexual abuses, three gravely outrageous and one with carnal access, aggravated for causing psychological harm. Pablo G. took advantage of sclerosing treatments for varicose veins and circulatory problems to touch his patients, even in the vaginal area.
To one of them, using the fact that she was asleep from the massages , the breathing that the professional indicated and the relaxing music of the place, she got to perform oral sex. The woman, when she woke up, had it on her. The patient suffered from panic attacks, phobias, and recurring distress. That episode was labeled as abuse with carnal access.
The prosecutor does not have evidence that the phlebologist has supplied any drug to anesthetize the patients or make them drowsy. At the hearings, the doctor stated that he had used chronic glycerin, an injection that is applied for circulatory treatments in the legs. "None refers to having been drugged to commit these acts," said the prosecutor investigating the case, Juan Marichal.
The first complaints were received by the prosecution between the end of January and the beginning of February of this year. It was not easy for women to tell their stories. Stories captured on social networks allowed abused women to confirm that the practices of this professional were repeated.
This made it easier for them to contact each other to share their experiences. It was the previous step for two to file complaints in the Police's Gender Violence Area and a third in the prosecution. A fourth case, with the same doctor and in the same clinic, was judicially processed in the town of Villa Ocampo and then referred to Marichal.
“They began to connect with each other and that's when they dared to file a criminal complaint. There are a number of publications on the Internet before making the criminal complaint. As is often said, an escrache, ” the prosecutor told Clarín .
The oldest case is that of 2013. In January 2014 the second happened, the next in October 2018 and the last woman, who had several sessions with the accused phlebologist, last saw her on December 19 of last year. "He brushed her, touched her vagina and in the last session she felt masturbated," explained the prosecutor.
Despite the passage of time and there are no direct witnesses to the abuses, the evidentiary material includes the testimony of the women , the evidence of the dialogue they had with others affected or with people in their environment who were told the episodes and even certification of psychologists and psychiatrists who attended one of them.
That woman had work problems that led her to lose her job, all for behaviors derived from abuse. There is also another element that for the prosecutor gives weight to the complaint: many events with similar characteristics and modalities.
At an imputational hearing the doctor made an extensive statement. He justified the physical contact with the patients and explained in detail how the treatments available to each of them were. When asked about the abuses, he denied them.
The prosecutor stated in this procedure that no protocol of his specialty as a phlebologist justified the events reported by the women, with contact in the vaginal area.
The doctor was charged in mid-June. After that, two other women showed up to comment on what they suffered in the past when they were treated by Pablo G. This will provoke a new accusation against the doctor in the coming weeks.
"Many potential whistleblowers don't want to expose themselves . What conspired in this case is that here in Reconquista there is fear, shame , (fear of) retaliation, that no one will believe, that will not be investigated. It is a small city, where you can cross or where there are always acquaintances, mutual friends, family. A case that seems to be vox populi, but nobody is encouraged. Everyone knows, but nobody does, "lamented the prosecutor.
The accused was indicted on June 17, but an episode changed his situation in the judicial process. On July 14, he called the cell phone of the ex-husband of one of the complainants. They talked for 18 minutes. They knew each other. They had a relationship of trust. The doctor told him that if the trial went ahead he could be harmed, but also the families of the complainants . They took it as an intimidating episode.
Pablo G. accepted the call, but denied that it had the tenor that his interlocutor raised. Given this episode, the prosecutor requested preventive detention. He assessed that there was a risk of hindering the investigation. The judge ordered 60 days of detention. The trial could take place next year. If found guilty, he could receive a minimum sentence of eight years just for the case in which he committed carnal access.
Rosary beads. Correspondent
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