A doctor accused of giving a woman cups of coffee which contained his own semen is suffering from a medical condition which causes him to ejaculate while using the toilet to defacate, a jury was told today
Dr Nicholas Chapman, 55, of Taunton, Somerset, has denied two charges of attempting to engage in sexual activity without consent by making the woman ingest his semen between 12 September 2020 and 12 September 2021.
Gloucester Crown Cout has heard that the woman spat out the coffee because it tasted salty – and then discovered a ‘gloopy’ substance in the cup.
Professor Asif Muneer told the jury today that Dr Chapman has been diagnosed with a condition called prostatitis which is treated with antibiotics.
‘His condition has an element of secretion when he defacates,’ said Prof 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.
Dr Nicholas Chapman (pictured arriving at court), 54, of Taunton, Somerset, denies two charges of trying to engage a woman in sexual activity without her consent
‘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.’
The jury was told that Dr Chapman had been diagnosed with the prostatitis when he was a teenager and had been managing the condition ever since. He also suffers from spontaneous ejaculation discharge.
They also heard that Dr Chapman was asked to make a video of his toileting procedure for the medical experts to examine.
Oliver Kayes, a urologist who is expert in defacation, explained that Dr Chapman had adopted a means of capturing the translucent discharge from his penis in clinical pots while he was defacating, instead of letting it go down the toilet.
‘His condition would require him to ejaculate at least three times a week to avoid him being in pain,’ he said.
‘On balance it would be difficult to differentiate between the fluids from a discharge or an ejaculation. The delayed dribble discharge is not the same as that from post-ejaculation.’
The jury was told that Dr Chapman collected his semen in specimen bottles and was using a universal stick to monitor his discharge.
Mr Chapman (pictured) is accused of giving a woman a cup of coffee that contained his semen
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 that 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’.
A friend of the woman who was the recipient of the offending coffee cup told the jury that she had confided with her over her suspicions about what was going on.
She 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 that 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 a containers – the coffee in one and the substance in the other.
‘I then made a fresh cup of coffee and we examined this for a comparison. There was nothing but coffee remnants in the bottom.
‘My friend initially put the containers in the fridge. It was decided that I should take them home and put it in them in a microwave bag initially in the fridge and then the freezer.
‘I then spoke to a friend who is a police officer who I trusted. He was at work when I contacted him so he said he would contact me the next day. He suggested to me that I should formally report this to the police.
‘On the following Friday I was told that Dr Chapman had made her friend 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.’
Gloucester Crown Court heard that after the victim found suspicious ‘specimens’, she reported him to the police and a laboratory test later confirmed the substance was ‘semen that related to the doctor’
In earlier evidence the alleged victim, who cannot be identified, told the jury she had spat out a cup of coffee made by the doctor as it tasted ‘salty’ and had ‘a gloopy substance’ at the bottom of the cup.
She said: ‘Over a period of time Dr Chapman made me a number of cups of coffee, but I distinctly remember not drinking them… 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 that 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.
‘When I suspected that something had been put into my coffee I would pretend that I had been drinking it and poured some of it away to make it look like I had been drinking it.
‘I began to question myself what was going on.
‘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 – it is time stamped September 14 at 3.15pm. 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.
The GP was arrested when the allegations came to light.
Defence barrister Virginia Cornwall has told the jury the doctor’s defence is that he did not behave inappropriately at any time and did not exclusively make coffee for the woman.
She said he denies putting anything into her coffee at any time and does not know who did so.’
The trial continues.