A Brighton man who posed as a gynaecologist and fertility specialist by forging his medical qualification has lost his bid for less jail time. Raffaele Di Paolo was jailed by the County Court for 51 criminal offences after fleecing patients out of more than $385,000 over 10 years. Di Paolo, who has narcissistic personality disorder, passed himself off as an IVF doctor between 2005 and 2015, originally working from his Bay St home and later an office in St Kilda Rd, Melbourne. Patients were generally referred to the fraudster by word of mouth from alternative health practitioners, the court heard. A jury last year found Di Paolo guilty of a raft of charges relating to a range of predatory behaviours, including inserting medical probes into patients’ vaginas and extracting semen from a man’s testicles without anaesthetic. He also injected patients with homoeopathic treatments and conducted examinations without wearing gloves. Di Paolo took “substantial sums of money” to help patients conceive, claiming he practised a “more natural and successful” form of IVF. He last month appealed against his 15 jury convictions, including procuring sexual penetration by fraud, indecent assault and assault. Lawyers for Di Paolo challenged his six-and-a-half year minimum prison sentence, arguing it was manifestly excessive as he had been suffering from a mental illness at the time. The fake medic also argued he should not have been registered as a sex offender for life because his crimes were not motivated by sexual gratification. But Court of Appeal judges Phillip Priest, Richard Niall and Lex Lasry last Friday refused Di Paolo’s appeal. They said he had a personality disorder rather than a mental illness. “In (Di Paolo’s) case, a level of grandiosity may be consistent with a narcissistic personality disorder, but it did not any way diminish the applicant’s moral culpability,” they said. And they ruled he posed a risk to “the sexual safety of the community seeking fertility treatment” and ordered he stay on the sex offender registry. Di Paolo forged his qualifications in Italy during the 1990s and has also been convicted there for pretending to be a medical practitioner, obstetrician and gynaecologist. He must spend at least six-and-a-half years of his nine-and-a-half-year sentence behind bars.
September 9, 2019
Penwood Village is under a legal challenge via a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) in front of Deputy President Anderson in Conference Room 6a – Level 6 in Adelaide (Opacic)
September 9, 2019
A 28-year-old man has been jailed for a year for brutally attacking a Perth paramedic in Midland. Father of two Ian Dyer received a broken jaw and fractures to the base of his skull while escorting Bradley Phillip Nelson, 28, into St John of God Hospital at 3am on August 24. He was punched in the side of his face hard enough to lose consciousness and fall to the ground. The attack prompted calls for tougher penalties for people who assaulted emergency services workers, with Mr Dyer last month saying he wanted to see “punishment … and righteous justice” for the attack that would see him facing two months off work and then light duties.
September 9, 2019
Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes has a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) with which it must deal before Deputy President Masson in Court 5 – Level 6 and Conference Room D -Level 6 in Melbourne (Ford).
September 9, 2019
Royal Flying Doctor Service Victoria has a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) to face in front of Fair Work Deputy President Colman in chambers in Melbourne (Lawrence).
September 9, 2019
An application for approval of the Diagnostic Services Pty Ltd and Consultant Pathology Services Pty Ltd Enterprise Agreement (2018) (s.185 – Application for approval will be heard by Fair Work Deputy President Colman in chambers in Melbourne.
September 6, 2019
The AMA (Victoria) Ltd & Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation and Alfred Health & Bendigo Health and Others have a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) raging before Commissioner Gregory in Court 5 – Level 6 and Conference Room D – Level 6 in Melbourne.
September 6, 2019
St Vincent’s Pathology is dealing with a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) in front of Fair Work Commissioner Cirkovic in Court 3 – Level 6 and Conference Room B – Level 6 in Melbourne (Godfrey).
