A 59-year-old man has admitted posing as a gynaecologist, sexually assaulting a young woman and conning her into paying him €4,000 for treatment at a clinic in Switzerland.
John Wilkins, an English national, pleaded guilty to a number of charges relating to the offending when he appeared at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday.
Wilkins pleaded guilty to representing himself as a medical practitioner between September 11th and 20th 2014 and to sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s on September 18th 2014.
Wilkins also pleaded guilty to a third charged that on September 22nd 2014, he dishonestly induced the woman into paying €4,000 for gynaecological services at a clinic in Switzerland.
A jury of seven men and five women had been sworn to try the case at Cork Circuit Criminal Court but Wilkins was re-arraigned and pleaded guilty just before the case was to start.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin thanked the jurors and said that disposed of the case from their point of view before defence barrister, Donal O’Sullivan BL applied to have sentencing adjourned.
"He is a man with physical ailments and we would like to be able to put medical reports before the court," Mr O'Sullivan told Judge O Donnabhain.
Mr O’Sullivan also asked for free legal aid to be extended to cover a medical report to be prepared by a doctor attending him in prison.
Judge Ó Donnabháin said no matters likely to identify the victim such as the location of the offences should be published but that Wilkins’s name could be disclosed in media reports.
A victim impact report is also to be prepared and sentencing on Wilkins was adjourned until June 12th with the accused remanded in prison to appear in court again on that date.
No details were given on the background to the case but it's expected that evidence will be given on June 12th by investigating officer, Det Garda Denis Callanan.
