HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A doctor on trial for sexual assault allegations believes evidence will show his accuser “has other motives” behind her allegations.
The first day of trial for Dr. Ugochukwu Akoma, who faces two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct as misdemeanors, began in the Superior Court of Guam on Tuesday morning.
After attorneys made motions relating to whether certain pieces of evidence should be presented to the jury, the jury of six heard opening statements from Assistant Attorney General Randall Albright, who detailed accusations made by the accuser, a 29-year-old woman, in October 2021.
Albright told the jury the woman was a new patient of Akoma, the Hepzibah Family Medical Clinic doctor, and sought assistance from Akoma in treating her anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The woman, whose father was a patient of Akoma’s, was prescribed medication to treat her anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, but after expressing concerns about the medication, visited Akoma’s office on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. Albright also mentioned the woman met with Akoma to discuss a job opportunity at Akoma’s office and to help Akoma work on a speech.
Once the woman arrived, though, Albright stated, she was led into a room at Akoma’s clinic by Akoma, where they sat next to each other and Akoma placed his right hand on her thigh and the woman “froze.”
“The defendant received a phone call, and then he sat down by her right side again, and … he took his right hand and grabbed (the woman’s) right hand and placed her right hand on his crotch area,” stated Albright who also said Akoma pulled the woman’s mask down and kissed her multiple times.
The woman subsequently asked Akoma to stop, then Akoma told the woman to follow him to another room, which she did.
“He (Akoma) closed the door, pushed her against a desk and then touched her vagina and tried to pull her zipper down. She protested, asking him to stop several times, but he continued, according to her statements,” Albright said.
Akoma allegedly left the room when someone called his name. The woman got on the phone with her boyfriend. When Akoma returned, the woman stayed on the phone and told Akoma it was her father and she needed to leave to check on him, Albright said in court.
“The defendant said (the woman) didn’t need to go check on him. … (Akoma) pulled her mask down, kissed her, sat her down on the office chair and began to rub her vagina,” Albright said.
Subsequently, according to Albright, the woman managed to leave the clinic when Akoma was called by another person outside the room, but when she returned home, the woman’s father asked the woman to go back to the clinic to pick up his lab work.
The woman eventually did go back to the clinic and alleged Akoma followed her, “began to grind his penis on her and lifted her shirt,” Albright said.
“The defendant pulled (the woman) behind a wall after she had said there’s a camera, … sat her on an office chair, pulled down her mask, kissed her and began rubbing her vagina against her protest. … She continued to tell him to stop, and she continued to push his hands from her. … The defendant then pulled out his penis and put (the woman’s) hand on it, and he told her to ‘kiss it’ and she said, ‘No,'” Albright told the jury.
Albright concluded his opening statements by saying the woman reported the incident to authorities within the following days and asked the jury to find Akoma guilty of the charges come the end of the trial.
Defense
In response to the government’s statements, Akoma’s attorney, Joaquin “Jay” Arriola Jr., first told the jury his client was charged with only two counts of criminal sexual conduct.
“He’s not charged with kissing her. H’s not charged with pinning her up against the wall. He’s not even charged with touching his penis, and he supposedly exposed to her. He’s only charged with putting her hand on his crotch area, … not on his penis, on his crotch and taking his hand and putting it on her outside crotch area, which she described as her vagina, outside the clothes,” Arriola said before detailing what the jury could expect to hear and see during the trial.
Witnesses to testify at the trial include the woman and others who were at Akoma’s clinic at the time the woman allegedly was sexually assaulted. Arriola emphasized there would not be any DNA, fingerprints or a rape kit presented at the trial.
Arriola further stated the case was “all about” the woman’s testimony and read a portion of the woman’s written report made to the Guam Police Department.
Additionally, Arriola also said in the woman’s return to the office on the same day, the woman recorded the second alleged incident.
“She goes back. … This time, however, when she goes back (and) she decides she’s going to record what’s going on. … This time she’s armed with her recording device, surreptitiously recording what’s going on in the medical clinic,” Arriola stated.
Before opening statements, Albright made a request to have the recordings presented at trial, which was objected to by Arriola due to Guam law prohibiting recordings made in doctors’ clinics without consent of the party being recorded. Tolentino eventually denied Albright’s request.
Arriola, before concluding his statements, questioned the motives of the woman. He said that after the woman made her report to police she filed a complaint against Akoma with the Guam Board of Medical Examiners and a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Guam seeking $500,000 from Akoma as compensation for the alleged conduct.
At the mention of the lawsuit, though, Albright objected to Arriola’s statements and asked the record be struck. Tolentino sustained the objection. However, after opening statements, the judge said the lawsuit could be mentioned by Arriola during trial if he intends to use it to question the credibility of the woman.
In conclusion, Arriola stated the evidence will result in the jury finding Akoma not guilty of the charges.
“I think the evidence will show that (the woman) has other motives to make these complaints, and after you hear all the evidence, you will find Dr. Akoma is not guilty of these charges.”
