Colleague and friend of David Lim testifies as doctor faces sex charges in Napier District Court

CROWN WITNESS: A long-time colleague of Dr David Lim has testified in his trial where he faces five counts of stupefying and eight of indecent assault. Photo/Duncan Brown

The Crown is calling the last of its witnesses as the trial of a doctor accused of stupefying and indecently assaulting his patients enters its second week.

David Kang Huat Lim, 41, is standing trial in the Napier District Court after pleading not guilty to five charges of stupefying and eight of indecent assault.

Lim is alleged to have administered the sedative drug Midazolam to four male patients, aged 18 to 30, before indecently assaulting them while he was working as a GP at The Doctors in Hastings during 2014.

Yesterday crown prosecutor Steve Manning called Dr Pinnaduwage de Silva, who worked with Lim since 2005 at The Doctors and the Hawke's Bay Hospital emergency department.

Dr de Silva told the court he had developed a non-professional relationship with Lim throughout the years and, like Lim, had worked under Dr Craig Ellis' direction at the hospital's emergency department.

"I would consider Dr Lim a friend and he knows my family too," he said.

Dr de Silva told the court he had used Midazolam in the ED; following the protocol of being accompanied by a second doctor. He said he hadn't used it for conscious sedation at The Doctors.

The court heard he was part of a clinical management team that regularly met to discuss medical practices at The Doctors.

Dr de Silva said had asked Lim to assist this team in developing a protocol for Midazolam as he was knowledgeable and experienced in this area.

Authored by the group in 2012, The Doctors' protocol for Midazolam was to have two doctors on site, not necessarily present during a procedure, when the drug to be used.

Last week the court heard from Dr Ellis, senior special emergency physician at Hawke's Bay Hospital, who oversaw Lim in a training capacity in the ED.

Dr Ellis told the court the department had an "absolute rule" that two people be present when Midazolam is used for the safety of both the doctor and the patient.

"We would usually have three people be present if that's logistically possible."

Dr Ellis said for a doctor to be alone while administering the drug would go against all of his teaching, which Lim received for three-and-a-half years, and described the protocol followed at The Doctors as "bizarre".

During cross-examination yesterday defence counsel Hannah Stuart put to Dr de Silva that while it might be practical to have a second practitioner present during a procedure it came down to a matter of clinical choice; with which he agreed.

De de Silva said it was about a doctor's own experiences, how comfortable they were with different techniques and the discussion they had with a patient.

Ms Stuart also put to him the techniques employed by Lim, which included moving a sedated patient into a darkened room to sleep and assisting a sedated patient to the bathroom.

Dr de Silva said a darkened room would be a comfortable environment for someone sleeping off the effects of sedation, and that taking a patient to the bathroom may be reasonable if the doctor thought they were at risk of falling over and hurting themselves.

Last Monday the court heard Lim was "overtly gay" and that this had created a situation "ripe for misunderstanding".

"We anticipate that it's likely each of these four young men recognised that when they came into the consultation they knew that he was demonstrably, overtly as I say, a gay person," said defence counsel Harry Waalkens, QC.

The Crown's case is that Lim "took advantage" of the men, whom he was treating for minor ailments, by giving them the drug in an unnecessary manner to render them unable to resist his sexual advances.

"His true intention was not a medical one but rather so he could take advantage of the effects of the sedation on his patients," Mr Manning said.

The trial is continuing.