The former gynaecologist and obstetrician – who was imprisoned for two and a half years after being found guilty of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm – appeared at the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal today in Sydney.
His victim, Carolyn Dewaegeneire, who has been fighting for justice for 12 years and told her full story in The Weekly last year, was also at court to face her attacker.
Reeves, 63, clutched his stomach during the hearing, which comes after the High Court decided against extending his sentence by 18 months because his “deteriorating health and the imminent expiry of his non-parole period” should have been taken into account.
Reeves is diabetic and requires dialysis for kidney disease, which the Crown prosecution argued can adequately be provided while in jail. But his defence team argued he could not always meet his special dietary requirements or access timely medical help while incarcerated.
Afterwards Mrs Dewaegeneire, now 70, spoke of her anger that concerns over Reeves’ health were being given such weight, considering the huge damage he had done to women’s health.
“I am a very disillusioned person and I’m afraid that I am getting very cynical,”she said, describing the legal arguments to protect Reeves’ health as “mindblowing”.
“My life has been totally devastated,” she said. “I should be enjoying life as an older person. I am not.”
Mrs Dewaegeneire was devastated to wake up to find all her external genitalia had been removed by Reeves in an agonising operation at Pambula Hospital on the NSW south coast in 2002 to remove a small lesion from her labia.
She said she held Reeves “in complete contempt” and said it didn’t make any real difference whether he went back to jail but she wanted justice for women and to ensure victims’ voices were heard.
Lorraine Long, whose Medical Error Action Group originally exposed the Reeves scandal, condemned his health concerns as “just an excuse” to try and avoid further jail time.
Reeves originally faced 69 charges, after many women came forward to complain of injuries allegedly caused by Reeves following Mrs Dewaegeneire’s decision to go public with her story, but only five were heard in court and the rest were dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Reeves also has depression and vascular disease, the court heard, and had a fistula catheter inserted two days ago. He was released from jail on parole five months ago.
The case has been going through the courts for years. Today it returned from the High Court to the NSW Court of Criminal Appeals, which will reconsider Reeves’ sentence.
The case has been adjourned to June 2.
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