Doctor, 71, freed of rape charge

GYNAECOLOGIST Dr David Ali walked out of the San Fernando High Court a free man on Monday after a jury found him not guilty of the April 8, 2003, rape of a woman.

Ali, 71, a medical director and owner of Gulf View Medical Centre at La Romaine, had been on trial before Justice Hayden St Clair- Douglas in the Second Criminal Assizes. The jury deliberated for about an hour before returning with the not-guilty verdict. The charge against the doctor was that on April 8, 2003, the woman, who was in her early 20s, went to the centre. The State contended that after Ali medically examined her, he raped the woman. During the trial, which was heard in camera, four people testified, including the alleged victim. State prosecutor were Trevor Jones and Rebecca Trim-Wright.

Defence attorneys Pamela Elder, SC, and John Heath represented the doctor. The defence called three witnesses, two staff at the medical centre and a relative of the doctor. The defence said on the date of the alleged incident, the woman had visited to pay a bill and was not scheduled to be medically examined.