Coming forward about sexual assault can be a difficult experience for many victims, especially in small communities where the perpetrator holds a position of power and trust.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
One such victim, Claire (a pseudonym to protect the victim's identity), spoke with reporter Alex Dalziel after a recent court case which ended in a conviction.
For sexual assault victim Claire, a common trip to the doctors can be a harrowing experience.
"Just walking into a doctor's surgery is enough to make me go from being a very normal, very unanimated human being to being very alert, very scared," she said.
The involuntary response is the result of her 2020 sexual assault at the hands of former Avoca GP Martin Lee, who was last month sentenced to a year in prison for sexually assaulting four women over a span of five years.
Claire has decided to share her story, from her assault, to the decision to take the story to the police, to Lee's conviction and aftermath.
The story is also one of empowerment and finding the courage to come forward.
She hopes by sharing her story she will inspire others in a similar position to come forward with their story of sexual abuse, and seek justice.
Betrayed trust
Claire, 47, was a former patient of Lee and had been seeing the Avoca doctor in 2020 for her complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
At one of her appointments, Claire told Lee she had used gold detecting as a way to deal with her mental health issues.
"I explained to him that I prospected, because you can't think about two things at once," Claire said.
"At that time he was very interested, and said to me 'Is there any chance you could show me this, I have other patients that this may help and I am quite interested in it'."
Under the pretense of seeking alternative treatments for his patients, Lee arranged to go gold detecting with his wife, Claire and Claire's partner.
On June 17, 2020, the group drove two minutes out of Avoca to go gold detecting.
It was there, in the bush, as Claire opened the back of the car to get the gold detecting harnesses, Lee sexually assaulted her.
"I took him back to Tristar after about half an hour in the bush and I just instantly went into freeze mode," she said.
In the aftermath of the incident, on June 19 and 26, Lee attempted to contact Claire via email and text message to no response.
Claire eventually returned to the Tristar clinic a few months later to get a script filled out - through a Telehealth appointment with another doctor at the clinic.
"I had a telehealth meeting with him and I called the offices to see why he was running so late on the telehealth. I was already on my way to Avoca," Claire said.
"They asked me to come into the doctors' surgery and I said no. They asked me why and I said that Dr Lee had sexually assaulted me."
What she heard in response shocked her, and called her to action.
"Someone at the surgery came back to me with, 'yes, unfortunately he is known for that'," Claire said.
Claire was made to wait in the lobby of the Tristar clinic, alongside the perpetrator of her sexual assault, until another doctor at the clinic was available to see her.
"By the time I got to the other doctor I was not a coherent human," Claire said.
"Once I found out that he was known for this, because I already had PTSD I went into a bubble.
"There were no witnesses, so I knew I couldn't really go to the police."
Claire, unsure of her legal options and scared of a possible reprisal suit, contacted Maurice Blackburn Lawyers to see what she could do.
She reported the matter to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority in 2020, which eventually referred the matter to the police. Maurice Blackburn Lawyers senior associate Katie Murphy said Claire had shown "great bravery" in coming forward.
"(Claire) has shown incredible courage over the last few years. It took great bravery on her part both to report the sexual assault, and to remain steadfast throughout the lengthy investigation that followed," she said.
"It is very concerning that this many women have been affected by Dr Lee's actions, and that it has taken this long to come to light.
"Doctors play an important role in our community keeping us healthy, which rightfully comes with a lot of trust. It is incredibly disappointing that Dr Lee would abuse this position and cause harm to his patients."
Coming forward
Claire described a triggering and harrowing experience when she decided to bring her story to the medical board.
"Just the amount of different people that handled my case at the time, having to go through the story with them every single time and intimately through the story," she said.
"For that two-and-a-half years I had to relive what I had been through nearly once a week to somebody.
"That was very detrimental to my mental health and my life."
After a year of seeking justice through AHPRA, Claire was referred onto the Ballarat Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team in November 2021, where a case would be built against Lee.
Three other victims from Avoca would come forward with similar allegations against Lee, with offending dating back to at least 2017.
"He profiled each one of his victims and made sure that they all had mental health issues. Mine was complex post-traumatic stress disorder whereas the other women there were other things," Claire said.
"I was the least vulnerable out of them and he underestimated other people listening to me I think."
Claire commended the investigative unit for their support throughout the process of bringing Lee to court.
"I cannot say a bad word, apart from how long it was stretched out for. I had the same person dealing with me from SOCIT from the start to finish," she said.
"I didn't have to explain myself 200 times to 200 people.
"The process was unexpected for me, because I really had no belief that there would be an outcome from this, and yet we got one."
Justice
On February 28, 2023, Lee was sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual assault.
Three of the four victims, including Claire, were present via video link for the sentencing hearing at Ballarat Magistrates' Court. Lee was also placed on a 24-month community corrections order and stripped of his medical licence in Australia.
"I felt the weight of the world come off my shoulders," Claire said.
"I know that he can never be a predator upon socially under-privileged people or people who have got mental health issues ever again."
Claire was acutely aware of the potential risk she would be exposed to by coming forward with her story and naming Lee.
She said she was inspired by former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, and her story of survival and advocacy.
"There is this wonderful woman called Grace Tame. Grace was probably my biggest inspiration throughout this time, because of the fact that I watched her and took my hat off to her, because I knew that woman never wanted somebody else to go through what she had gone through," Claire said.
To think that somebody like that could do unthinkable things to other human beings is something you don't want to admit or talk about. It is a very taboo subject.
"People in power, teachers, doctors, nurses, politicians, people in the judicial system, they are people that you put on a pedestal.
"To think that somebody like that could do unthinkable things to other human beings is something you don't want to admit or talk about. It is a very taboo subject.
"My whole thing was not about me, it was about making sure that nobody else went through that."
Lasting scars
In the years following her assault, Claire had difficulties getting her medical records - including the long history of her complex post-traumatic stress disorder - transferred to a different medical clinic.
On top of this, she had an often suffocating sense of anxiety when entering doctors' offices due to the memories brought back by those environments.
"Just walking into a doctor's surgery is enough to make me go from being a very normal, very unanimated human being to being very alert, very scared and a little bit - to the outsider I probably look like someone who is a bit dodgy," Claire said.
"I do get nervous and I do get agitated when put in the position of even having to think about going to a doctor or a doctor's surgery or having to go to a hospital."
She hoped sharing her story would inspire other women in similar positions to come forward and seek justice.
Claire also encouraged any other potential victims of Lee's to come forward with their story.
"I would like to say to them that hopefully there will be somebody with a voice for them," she said.
"Don't be scared to come forward, don't be scared to open your mouth, because when you come forward you are saving somebody else."
Phone the Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault, in Sebastopol, on 5320 3933, or free-call the crisis care line 24 hours on 1800 806 292.
