Chaudhry Ali Shahbaz: Blood technician on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting patient at Willetton clinic

A woman has told a jury how a trip to a pathologist to get a blood test left her embarrassed and in pain after a male staff member told her he needed an intimate swab. Phlebotomist Chaudhry Ali Shahbaz, 29, had pleaded not guilty in the District Court to three counts of sexual penetration at a Willetton pathology clinic on August 31, 2023. Through a Chinese interpreter the woman, aged in her 30s, said she had been sent by her general practitioner to the clinic for blood tests as she and her husband were planning to have a baby. After her blood was taken the woman said the male technician told her he also needed to do a “PCR” test. “I thought it was something to do with COVID, through your nose or through a throat swab,” she said. However the man told her it was, “through the vagina.” “I ask him, ‘can I do that myself?’ He then replied with lots of medical terms but one point he was making was if you think you can do that you can do it. . . because I don’t follow the medical terms I said I may not be able to do that by myself.” The woman said he directed her to pull her pants and underwear down and sit in a chair she described as “filthy, dirty.” “I felt it was very strange because previously when I do a vaginal swab it was done by a doctor, usually putting the curtain around for privacy.” She said the man inserted the swab three times and that it was, “very painful” on the second and third time prompting her to push him away. “I felt embarrassed so I turned my head around,” she said. Afterwards she said he engaged her in a sexual conversation. “He said Pakistani men like making love but Pakistani woman does not like making love and he told me I could make love for quite a long time,” she testified. She claimed he also said, “a lot of Asian females engage in sex work.” “He said if you’re going to a massage shop you can see a lot of Asian women engaged in sex work.” Afterwards the woman went home and contacted a friend who was also a blood technician and told her about her experience. She also told her husband. The following day police interviewed her at her home. The trial continues. 1800RESPECT