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A former Yorkton doctor has been arrested on charges of sexual assault dating back to 2001 and 2008.
Mohammed Haque was arrested at his current home in London, Ontario on Feb. 2, 2016 after a long investigation.
Yorkton RCMP say a woman first reported being sexually assaulted by Haque in 2001. Since the start of the investigation, 12 women have come forward to police with similar reports of assaults between 2001 and 2008. They were all patients of Haque and the assaults allegedly took place at the medical facility where he worked in Yorkton.
With a 15 year gap between the first report of an assault and his arrest, police officers in Yorkton were asked what took so long.
“There was different factors,” explained Sgt. Greg Nichol with Yorkton RCMP. “It had been forwarded to Crown for review. We had a second look at it several years ago and involved some other support agencies that we would employ to gather further evidence and further the investigation, and the decision was reached to get to where we are today with him being charged.”
Haque faces six counts of sexual assault and will appear in Yorkton Provincial Court on Monday Feb. 22, 2016. He is currently out on bail under conditions not to have any contact with the victims.
“There was originally 12 females that had come forward. Decisions were made including evidence and speaking with the victims, and a decision was made in consultation with the Crown to proceed with the six charges that we have with the six victims.”
Sgt. Nichol said the RCMP suspect there may be more victims and encourages them to come forward to police. He also commended the women who made what he called a courageous decision to come forward and report to police in the first place.
Haque gave up his medical licence in 2012 following allegations of sexual misconduct with female patients. He was first charged by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan after two women accused him of misconduct ranging from performing surgery without consent, to making sexualized comments. In one of those cases he was accused of performing an operation without proper assessment that resulted in a reduction in the size of a woman’s vagina. Another woman accused Haque of starting a conversation about sexual preferences and fantasies during a routine exam.
