Details surfacing

More sexual assault allegations levelled against disgraced neurologist

More than a dozen more women have come forward with sexual abuse allegations against disgraced neurologist Keith Hoyte.

Defence counsel Alain Hepner appeared on behalf of Hoyte in provincial court Tuesday and told Judge Ken Mcleod he wished to waive formal reading of the new allegations.

Hoyte, who is currently serving a three-year prison term at Bowden Institution for sexually abusing 28 female patients, had 15 new sex-related charges involving 13 alleged victims, including one person who was 12 when the suspected abuse began, filed against him in July.

But since then, 16 more women have come forward, resulting in 17 new sex-related charges for the retired neurologist.

“He knows (about the nevw charges)," Hepner said outside court, after adjourning all 32 allegations to Oct. 26.

Hoyte, 73, did not appear in court Tuesday.

At the Crown's request, Mcleod imposed a publication ban on the identities of the latest complainants.

Hoyte was sentenced last September to three years in a federal penitentiary after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting 28 female patients, including one as young as 17 years of age. Those incidents spanned three decades, from the early 1980s to Hoyte's retirement in 2013.

Seventeen of those victims have filed a civil suit against Hoyte seeking damages of $160,000 each.

The charges filed in July span more than two decades, from 1987 to his retirement.

The newest allegations are from as far back as Jan. 1, 1991.

At the time those charges were laid, police encouraged any victims of sexual abuse to come forward regardless of when the incidents occurred.

“There is no time limit on how long a victim has to report a sexual assault in Canada and police can still investigate an incident decades after it occurred,” a press release said.

Hoyte is also facing an application by three of the women seeking restitution of almost $90,000 for monetary losses due to psychological harm the doctor caused them. He is currently serving time for abusing them.

In a hearing before Justice Jim Eamon last month, Crown prosecutor Rose Greenwood said the women wished to be compensated for counselling services paid for, or lost wages.

Greenwood said one woman was seeking $2,660 in fees she paid for psychological services, a second wants $11,550 she paid in counselling and a third is asking for $74,000 in lost wages after she had to take a year's leave of absence from work to recover from Hoyte's abuse.

But Hepner argued compensation should be sought in a separate civil trial and not in connection with Hoyte's criminal prosecution.

Eamon was concerned about how the law should define psychological harm and has asked counsel to look for case-law in the area before the hearing resumes later this month.