We are relieved the jury has convicted Dr. Rang Pham on 4 counts of sexual assault at the BC Supreme Court. “We applaud the women for their courage and stamina to testify in this case,” said Louisa Russell, a rape crisis worker with Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter.
Many women testified in Supreme Court Case on the 7 counts of sexual assault laid on male medical practitioner Dr. Rang Pham, an acupuncturist in his late 60s. The trial started on, Monday May 30, 2011 at the Vancouver Supreme Court and resulted in a successful conviction.
Pham, whose clinic was in the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood practiced since the 1990’s but has been suspended by the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of British Columbia since female patients went to the Vancouver Police in 2009.
Louisa Russell a rape crisis worker with Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter a local organization helping survivors of sexual violence since 1973 says, “It is not uncommon for us to receive calls about doctors who abuse their position of trust to sexually assault female patients. It is rare though for a doctor to actually be charged and go to court and even rarer to get a conviction. What helped make a difference in this case is that the women used their local rape crisis centre to group and resist the attacks”.
Russell went on to say, “While the conviction is a relief it does beg the questions why did so many of women have to be violated before we could hold this attacker to account?”
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