A Texas doctor will not serve jail time after raping a patient while she was sedated.
Shafeeq Sheikh was sentenced to 10 years' probation on Friday (local time) and will have to register as a sex offender for life, reports Buzzfeed News.
In 2013, Sheikh assaulted and raped a 27-year-old patient as she was being treated for a severe asthma attack at Ben Taub General Hospital.
The woman, identified by local media as Laura, recounted the attack to the Houston Chronicle in 2015. She said Sheikh came into her room and said he needed to examine her chest, then touched her breast and vagina.
Laura tried to call a nurse using the bedside call button, but it had been disconnected.
She said Sheikh left the room, came back and repeated the assault, then came back a third time and raped her. Laura reported the crime the next morning.
Sheikh lost his job and medical license when he was arrested two years later in 2015.
During the trial, Sheikh testified that the sex had been consensual, arguing Laura was "a Latina woman with fake boobs that came onto that little nerdy middle-aged guy, and he lost his mind".
But the prosecution said that was "ridiculous", and said patients in hospital are especially vulnerable.
Surveillance video and data from his hospital ID badge placed him on Laura's floor on the night of the assault.
Jurors found Sheikh guilty, recommending the judge sentence him to 10 years' probation, which the judge was legally bound to follow, reports the Chronicle.
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