Hoo boy. You might wanna be sitting down for this one, because it’s a hell of a lot to take in.
A Melbourne man who is alleged to have operated as a fake gynecologist for a period of a decade has appeared in court today to have over 80 charges heard against him, including charges of rape.
59-year-old Raffaele Lorenzo Di Paolo of Kew appeared at the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court today, charged with multiple counts of rape, fraud, sexual penetration, obtaining money by deception, and indecent assault.
Police allege that Di Paolo passed himself off to desperate women and couples as a registered and qualified doctor, gynecologist, and IVF specialist, despite reportedly being none of those things.
Di Paolo operated a fertility clinic and business from 2004 until his arrest in 2015. During that time police allege he committed 88 various offences.
Among the incidents police allege occurred, Di Paolo is said to have sent a dissatisfied patient an ultra-sound image of a foetus via text, one that was also sent to multiple other patients. Subsequent examinations of the patient in hospital revealed she was not, nor had ever been pregnant.
The prosecution summary also claims that Di Paolo injected at least one woman in the stomach with sperm, and extracted sperm from the husband of another patient via syringe to the testicles; a procedure that was performed without anaesthetic.
Prosecution has also levelled rape and indecent assault charges on Di Paolo relating to internal ultrasound examinations performed on patients, as well as breast examinations which were carried out without gloves or qualifications.
Throughout the course of the 11-year operation, prosecution alleges that Di Paolo received $300,000 in fraudulent payments.
Di Paolo has openly claimed that he has only practiced homeopathy in Australia, but health authorities have been investigating his practice in 2011 before handing the case over to police. Di Paolo claims to be a registered and licensed doctor in Italy, however academic records from numerous Universities indicate that he had not finished any medical degree, and in fact had only ever passed four examinations in total.
33 witnesses are expected to be called give evidence during the committal hearing, which will last approximately three weeks.
Hooley fkn dooley. The hearing continues this week.
Source: Herald Sun.
Photo: Nigel Kileen/Getty.
