All of the alleged victims have now testified in the sexual assault trial of a Windsor doctor.
Bassam El-Tatari, 45, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of sexual assault for alleged incidents involving his former patients that date back to 2009.
Warning: some of the testimony is graphic in nature and may be offensive in nature.
In superior court Wednesday, a former patient testified they hugged each other for three minutes at the end of an appointment in July of 2013. She alleges Doctor El-Tatari said to her “what do you want me to do to you?” To which she replied “rub my back.” The woman said the doctor noticed her back was sweating because it was summer when she alleges he said to her “is it the only place I make you wet?”
On cross examination, the woman admitted this is the first time she's testified that she asked for the doctor to rub her back, and she denied ever saying she liked how the doctor smelled.
The sixth and final alleged victim also took the stand and testified in 2014, Doctor El-Tatari insisted on doing his own pelvic exam even though the woman said she had an OB-GYN. During the exam, the woman alleges Doctor El-Tatari asked her to squeeze down on his fingers.
According to the woman, Doctor El-Tatari replied “that was kind of weak.”
But on cross examination, the woman admitted she didn't come forward until the next year when she saw news reports of El-Tatari's first charge of sexual assault, claiming to be embarrassed.
All six women who have made the allegations cannot be identified because of a court-ordered publication ban.
Five of the women told the court they only came forward after February 2015, when Doctor El-Tatari was initially charged and it was reported in the local media.
The trial is now running ahead of schedule, and the next witnesses aren't available until next Tuesday when the trial will resume.