Doctor admits fondling babysitter, 16

A Canterbury doctor has admitted sexual activity with his family's 16-year-old babysitter in 1985, but denies having intercourse with her.

The doctor, who has interim name suppression, told a five-member Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal yesterday he and the girl had engaged in sexual activity, including kissing and fondling.

"No clothes were removed. Sexual intercourse did not happen," he said.

The doctor denied a second sexual encounter in which he allegedly gave the girl marijuana, cocaine and nitrous oxide while she was baby-sitting at his house, The Press reported.

He could not recall seeing the woman as a patient and he had no record of her at his practice, he said.

The pair resumed contact through emails in 2000, and they later engaged in an "email affair", he said.

"She wrote some erotic emails that were very suggestive."

She hired lawyers in 2003 and sent him a statement of claim seeking $120,000, and another claim for $75,000.

He offered the woman $50,000 but denied liability. The agreement was not implemented.

"She has manipulated the facts and encouraged the salacious email correspondence in order to extract money from me," he told the tribunal.

The hearing continues today.

- NZPA