A FORMER gynaecologist has been accused of raping 87 women at his surgery and filming the attacks for 20 years in a sex abuse scandal that has rocked Norway.
Arne Bye, 55, is standing trial over grim accusations of sexual abuse – including against two children who were aged 14 and 15 at the time of the alleged assaults.
Arne Bye, 55, charged with sexual abuse and rape
Grim video footage was recovered in the police probe
Cameras had been set up in his examination room
The oldest women was 67 when Bye allegedly raped her.
He has pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and 35 cases of abuse of position – facing up to 21 years behind bars.
Cops seized over 6,000 hours of footage during their investigation, including of his gynaecological examinations.
They were allegedly carried out on patients without their knowledge which officials described as “sensitive and detailed”.
Bye allegedly inserted a “deodorant-like”, “bottle-like” and a cylindrical object into the women – with no medical reason for doing so.
One woman, speaking to the court in Trøndelag, said: “I thought I was going to die”.
Another unnamed woman said she had gone in to her GP’s office for a sore throat – before being given one of the invasive examinations.
She told how she ended up in her underwear on a bench, saying: “I thought that he is my doctor, so I did as he said.”
The indictment against Bye says the alleged assaults “happened quickly and unexpectedly” during the examinations.
They took place in Frosta, a tiny town of only 2,600 inhabitants on the Norweigan coast.
The court has seen graphic video taken by Bye – with state attorney Richard Haugen Lyng saying: “‘We have video recordings of the assault itself.
“In that sense, we have a rather special evidentiary situation in the case, in that large parts of the indictment are illustrated with video material, says the prosecutor.”
The former doctor claimed in court that he recorded appointments for fear of lawsuits – and said he never watched them back.
Norwegian broadcaster NRK said one of the clips shows him putting up several cameras up in the room before he begins examining one of the women listed in the case.
The outlet also said he partially admitted to the rape charges in court on Wednesday.
Concerns were raised about him as long ago as 2006 – by another doctor in the gynaecology ward at a local hospital.
One of Bye’s patients, who was there for further treatment, said her doctor had massaged her genitals during the exam.
Police launched a probe in August 2022 after health authorities alerted them to the possible behaviour.
Bye was able to keep his job until the following year when charges were filed.
He has not been remanded in custody as the trial continues.
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