The tribunal heard this week that while treating the woman in 2022 and 2023, he sent her inappropriate messages, touched her breasts and genitals without consent, and persisted in trying to start a sexual relationship despite her strong religious beliefs about celibacy.
He told the HDC during their investigation that he accepted he had formed a “friendship” with the woman and had sent inappropriate messages, but denied the other allegations.
But now the HPDT has found the osteopath, who has interim name suppression, guilty of negligence and malpractice.
It proposed cancelling his registration and preventing him from re-registering for three years.
A decision on the penalty and whether he will keep name suppression will be released at a later date.
At the hearing, which he did not attend, the tribunal heard details of the relationship between the practitioner and his patient.
He had been treating the woman, who also has name suppression, for chronic pain when he began sending her inappropriate messages.
The tribunal heard the osteopath tried to engage in a personal, sexual relationship with her, and tried to hug and kiss her.
The woman told him she was a staunch Christian and did not want to have sexual relations outside marriage.
In one text message, he asked her about sex before marriage. She replied that his companionship was the closest she had been with a man in three years, but she would not be having sex.
When he responded “sad”, she replied: “Why? I’d be robbing my future husband of my body if I gave myself to you.”
He responded that was not true and challenged her beliefs.
Appointment held in the bedroom
In March 2023, he conducted a treatment session at the woman’s home, and it was held in her bedroom at his request.
In evidence, the woman said that while she was lying face down on the bed waiting for treatment, he removed all her clothes and began caressing and kissing her body, including her buttocks and thighs.
She said he also grabbed her hand and moved it over his body, including to his penis.
She then told him to stop and they sat on the bed together, where she reiterated her religious beliefs. When he left her home, she kissed him on the lips.
She acknowledged the kiss but described it as a “knee-jerk reaction”.
There were no clinical notes for the home visit.
The woman admitted she developed feelings for the osteopath and that they had discussed the possibility of marriage.
However, she said her religious beliefs prohibited inviting a man to her home when they were not married and that she felt guilty about doing so.
Later, the practitioner touched the woman’s vagina unconsensually during an appointment in June 2023 at the clinic.
She said she felt violated and blamed herself. Having been his patient for almost two years, she knew what to expect during treatment and said touching her genitals was not part of it.
The woman said she then felt she was being “groomed” by the osteopath and that the experience was “psychologically degrading”.
She messaged him after the appointment saying she appreciated that he was a “fantastic osteopath”, but she was now “conflicted” and needed to find someone else.
The tribunal also heard that the osteopath failed to keep clinical notes for several appointments and sometimes did not charge the woman for treatment.
The Osteopathic Council of New Zealand understood he had moved to the UK, where he has since appeared before its General Osteopathic Council after fraudulently attempting to register in August 2024.
As part of the registration process, he submitted an application for restoration to the register.
The application asks whether an applicant has been the subject of disciplinary findings in the UK or elsewhere, is currently under investigation by a professional body, or is aware of any impending investigation.
He answered “no” despite the ongoing HDC investigation.
The General Osteopathic Council subsequently removed him from the UK register.
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.