- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
A DOCTOR has been found guilty of sexually motivated misconduct after he tried to groom a 13-year-old girl.
Dr Hafeez Awan, 44, sent online kisses and hugs to the teen in an internet chatroom without realising that he was sending the messages to a detective from the Serious and Organised Crime unit.
During their interaction, Awan asked the girl if she was single and even requested that she give him her number so that they could speak on the phone.
He wrote during one conversation: “Mwah hugs for u. I want huggs too. Do you have a number? I want to call you and listen to ur voice [sic].”
Although police attempted to arrange a meeting between Awan and the girl, they did not succeed.
“We can only be friends. We won’t be able to meet till u r 16 [sic],” he said.
They later reported him to the General Medical Council.
He has since emigrated to Canada and has opened his own medical practice.
Awan was found guilty of sexually motivated misconduct at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
However, the doctor, who moved to the UK from Pakistan in 2003, said he continued chatting with the girl in an attempt to establish her true age.
He said he logged in to de-stress due to the ongoing effects of a robbery he fell victim to two years earlier in Pakistan.
“It was just general chit chat it was nothing to do with finding partners or anything sexual,” he said.
Panel chairman Sharmistha Michaels said: “There were no explicit sexual remarks made by Dr Awan to Person A but the Tribunal took the view that the series of messages, text messages and Whatsapp messages gave rise to the conclusion that his actions were sexually motivated.”
Awan will face further disciplinary hearings in which he could be struck off.
