Ex-QDMS
Aubrey Levin, a former South African psychiatrist, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting his patients in Canada.
Picture: The Calgary Herald
Mercury Correspondent
AUBREY Levin, the former South African psychiatrist accused of sexually assaulting 10 patients in Canada, was expected to be sentenced in a Calgary court yesterday.
He was found guilty by the jury on Monday of three counts of sexual assault.
He was acquitted of two other charges, and a mistrial on four other charges was ordered because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Calgary, which is nine hours behind South Africa, is the scene of the court case which began in September last year after the original complainant, known as RB, came forward in March 2010.
Levin, known as “Dr Shock”, headed a programme, at 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria, during the apartheid years that was designed to “cure” gay soldiers with shock therapy.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission accused Levin of “gross human rights abuses”, but he had already moved to Canada before he could testify.
According to the Calgary Herald, Crown prosecutor Dallas Sopko argued on Wednesday for a prison sentence of six to eight years for Levin, 74, who had seen many patients under court-ordered treatment.
Sopko said the assaults, which involved extensive groping and fondling, were done while the offender was in a position of trust.
“The assaults were repetitive and predatory in nature, and there was a vulnerability of the victims. You violated their trust.”
Sopko said the assaults on RB, who was found by the judge to have been assaulted 18 times over a number of years, and another victim, GP, who was assaulted three times, were worthy of four- to five-year prison sentences.
His abuse of the third victim, who had been assaulted once, warranted a one-year sentence.
This should be accompanied by Levin’s being added to a sex offender register, Sopko said.
Defence lawyer Chris Archer said the sex assaults against all three victims were “minor assaults” that should draw no more than a total sentence of one year.
The Cape Times reported earlier this week that Levin’s wife, Erica, had allegedly tried to bribe a juror with an envelope of money earlier this month.
She is under house arrest and faces a hearing on March 5.
