Jailed Indian-origin doctor found not guilty of third rape

An Indian-origin doctor in Australia, jailed last year for raping two patients, has been found not guilty of raping a third woman, media reported Thursday.

Manu Maimbilly Gopal, 40, was jailed Oct 3 last year for four years after a Supreme Court jury in the Australian state of Victoria found him guilty of digitally penetrating two women for his own sexual gratification at Sunbury Medical Centre in Melbourne.

Details of the third case were suppressed until Gopal faced a second trial this month in the county court of Victoria accused of preying on another patient, the Melbourne Age reported.

The alleged third victim claimed she went to the clinic Jan 15, 2012, where she was seen by Gopal in one of the consulting rooms.

The mother of two said she told Gopal that she thought she had a urinary tract infection before he asked her to take off her trousers and underwear and open her legs, the report said.

According to the woman, Gopal put his fingers inside her vagina without her consent and the internal examination went on for several minutes.

The woman, who later became upset, told her husband that the internal examination went for too long.

Gopal's lawyer, Sean Cash, said his client would not have done anything without the patient's consent and there was a medical justification for doing what he did.

A jury found Gopal not guilty Wednesday of one count of rape. The jury members were not told about Gopal's previous convictions for rape.

Prior to his four-year jail sentence handed Oct 3 last year, one of his victims, an 18-year-old student, told the jury how she shielded her face with her arm during the examination Feb, 23, 2012, in a "silent scream".

His next victim, a married mother of four, told how she was a mess after the examination and was shocked and sweating.

Gopal got his degree in medicine and surgery in 2001 from the Calicut University in the south Indian state of Kerala.

He started working at Sunbury Medical Centre in Melboune in late 2001 after receiving permission from Australian health authorities to work in a limited capacity.

He was arrested at Melbourne International Airport March 1, 2012, when he was waiting to board a flight to India.