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Edmonton doctor's appeal of sex assault conviction on patient turned down

The Alberta Court of Appeal has denied a doctor's appeal of his sexual assault conviction.

EDMONTON — The Alberta Court of Appeal has denied a doctor's appeal of his sexual assault conviction.

Ismail Taher voluntarily stopped practising medicine after he was found guilty of groping an 18-year-old woman who went to a medicentre in Sherwood Park about a possibly infected nose piercing in August 2013.

The woman said he massaged her breasts and touched her buttocks while looking at her other piercings.

Taher was sentenced to 12 months probation and told to pay $500 in restitution.

The trial judge ruled the woman's testimony was credible and he rejected the doctor's version of events due to "sparse notes, his failure to respond directly to critical questions, and his manner of responding that left her with "the impression that he was being evasive on certain critical points."

The justices ruled there was no errors in the judge's ruling and dismissed Taher's appeal.