Dr. Boon Seng Poh (in Singapore)

When a clinic assistant had chicken pox, her boss - the clinic doctor - insisted on checking her condition personally.

General practitioner Boon Seng Poh, 40, told his 29-year-old assistant to show up at his Ubi Crescent clinic on Oct 18, 2006, even though she had already seen another doctor two days earlier.

Taking the stand on the opening day of Boon's trial yesterday, the assistant said he tugged at her tank top and pulled her bra down during the examination. She claimed that he also complimented her on having 'nice breasts'.

Boon faces two charges of outraging the modesty of his assistant. The married man and father of two young children is alleged to have touched the breast of his assistant at his clinic that day. About two weeks later, he allegedly molested her again by hugging her from behind, with his hand touching an area near her breast.

In court, his clinic assistant revealed details of the harassment she alleged her former boss subjected her to several times towards the end of the 21/2 months that she worked for him.
She told the court that although she felt disgusted after hearing Boon's remark about her breasts, she kept the incident to herself. But when she returned to work about two weeks later, Boon called her into his consultation room for more checks. This time, she said, he unhooked her bra and told her he wanted to check her for breast cancer.

'I was shocked and asked him why. I thought he really wanted to check for breast cancer, so I let him,' she said. In response to questioning, she told Deputy Public Prosecutor Chan Huimin that she was puzzled by how a check for chicken pox could suddenly turn into an examination for breast cancer.

But that was not the end. Entering his consultation room at the end of the day to pass him some documents, she found the lights turned off and her boss lying on the consultation couch.
She alleged that he got up and hugged her from behind. He also told her that he liked her. Struggling free, she brushed off his offer to drive her home.

The next day, when she went into the room to give him some case files, he allegedly asked her to unzip her dress. 'He asked me to zip down my dress and I said 'no'. Then he said, 'Good things must share',' she recalled. She ignored him and walked out.

At home that night, she said, she could not stop thinking of what had happened. After speaking to her sister about it, she decided to make a police report the following day.

In cross-examination, Senior Counsel Sant Singh put it to her that she had been eprimanded by the doctor on one occasion for not helping to carry some milk cartons and standing around smoking instead. He also suggested to her that she constantly did not follow Boon's instructions and did things her own way. She disagreed.