Ireland: a doctor of Moroccan origin sentenced to eight years in prison for the rape of a nurse

Judge Sean Gillane stressed that Dr. Kila had "deliberately exploited" the victim’s vulnerability. The latter was in a state of drunkenness and asleep on a sofa when the assault began. Despite the nurse’s injunctions to stop, the doctor continued his criminal acts before trying to forcibly kiss her at the time of his departure, reports The Irish Times.

An aggravating factor weighed heavily in the sentence: the sending of a photograph of the assault to the victim’s boyfriend via social media. The judge described this act as a "deliberate maneuver of humiliation" that caused additional trauma. This message, sent while the victim was unconscious, had immediately caused the couple to break up.

The Irish health service (HSE) expressed its regrets after the verdict, admitting a serious flaw in its internal management. "Dr. Kila should have been suspended from his clinical practice as soon as we became aware of the assault. Unfortunately, this did not happen," said the regional management, while the doctor continued to practice for a year before his voluntary suspension.

During the trial, Louay Kila claimed that the reports were consensual and that the victim had fabricated these accusations out of fear of her partner’s reaction. The magistrate castigated this defense, stating that the defendant had maintained false statements in full knowledge of the facts, despite his status as a sworn health professional.

Sentenced to eight years in prison, the former doctor is now registered in the sex offender registry. The victim, who said she had finally "obtained justice," confided that she had been physically ill at the idea of returning to work in the same institution as her aggressor. She now hopes that her courage will encourage other survivors to break the silence.