Woman ‘hatched plot to catch doctor putting semen in her coffee’
A woman who accused a doctor of putting his semen in her coffee ‘devised a plan’ with a friend to get proof, a court has heard.
Dr Nicholas Chapman denies two charges of attempting to engage in sexual activity without consent by making the woman ingest his semen between September 12, 2020 and September 12, 2021.
Gloucester crown court heard today from the friend of the alleged victim, who had shared her suspicions with her about what was going on.
The friend said: ‘She confided in me because she thought she was going mad. It was quite difficult to understand what she was trying to tell me.
‘She said her coffee tasted funny when Dr Chapman made it for her. She told me it had occurred on a number of occasions.
‘On Monday, September 13 I got a message from my friend that Dr Chapman had made her a drink.
‘She asked me to come over and together we poured some of the contents into the sink. We saw a gloopy substance at the bottom of the cup.
‘I’d not seem anything like it before. I wore some specialist gloves and using a stick we tried to take the substance out and put into containers – the coffee in one and the substance in the other.
‘I spoke to a friend who is a police officer who I trusted. He suggested to me I should formally report this to the police.
‘On the following Friday I was told Dr Chapman had made her another coffee and she felt physically sick.
‘She and I went to the local village hall and met with a police officer and handed over the offending items.’
In earlier evidence the alleged victim, who can’t be identified, told the court she and her friend ‘devised a plan’ to gain proof of interference with her coffee.
She said: ‘I’d first noticed when Dr Chapman made me a coffee about a year ago it tasted “salty”. I spat it out immediately. I saw a gloopy substance at the bottom of the cup.
‘When I was cleaning up one day I noticed an unusual sample bottle that had been discarded. On another occasion I noticed a similar bottle poking out of his trouser pocket.
‘I also recall Dr Chapman showing me pictures on his phone and these were mostly of his pet dog and walks in the countryside.
‘However, when he was scanning through these images a picture of his erect penis appeared. Dr Chapman said I shouldn’t have seen that.
‘I initially thought this was a mistake, but it happened again on a different occasion. I turned away and he said “you shouldn’t have seen that” again. I didn’t tell anybody about this.
‘On one occasion I was with a friend and when we suspected something was up we tried to fish the contents out.
‘I didn’t know what it was but I didn’t expect to find semen at the bottom of my cup.
‘There were also remnants around the rim of the cup. I made the decision to take steps next time I believed it was happening again.
‘On this occasion, Dr Chapman made me a coffee and I took possession of it, but didn’t drink it. I then made contact with a friend and we devised a plan.
‘It began with Dr Chapman sending me a message stating he had made me a drink. It looked normal. I tipped some of the contents away. I could see a stringy gooey remains around the rim of the mug.
‘I took some pictures. I then emptied the rest of the contents into a container and my friend took it home and put it in her freezer.’
She told the jury that arrangements were then made to hand the sample over to the police and this was done three days later at a village hall.
Chapman was arrested when he arrived at work and was suspended from his post at a health centre in Somerset when the allegations came to light.
In his defence, barrister Virginia Cornwall said Chapman ‘denies putting anything into her coffee at any time and does not know who did so’.
Professor Asif Muneer told the jury today that Chapman has been diagnosed with a condition called prostatitis which is treated with antibiotics.
‘His condition has an element of secretion when he defecates,’ said Professor Muneer.
‘This is a medical situation when there is a discharge from a flaccid penis, which is not connected to sexually transmitted diseases. Men with spinal injuries also suffer from this condition.
‘The make-up of this secretion is very slightly different to that of normal ejaculation. This function is not sexual in nature but a response to his condition.
‘In Dr Chapman’s case this has been described as being chronic, because it is a condition that has lasted longer than six months.’
Oliver Kayes, a urologist who is expert in defecation, explained Dr Chapman had adopted a means of capturing the translucent discharge from his penis in clinical pots while he was defecating, instead of letting it go down the toilet.
The jury was told Dr Chapman collected his semen in specimen bottles and was using a universal stick to monitor his discharge.
Mr Kayes said: ‘This is not the usual way to test for anything as testing a urine sample would be more beneficial and reliable.’
The jury also heard the condition is known in men suffering from medical conditions such as spinal injuries but as Dr Chapman did not suffer from any associated conditions his diagnosis is classed as ‘rare’.
The trial continues.
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