Surgeon raped and choked women he met online
Devon and Cornwall PoliceAn NHS trainee surgeon has been found guilty on all three counts of raping two women following a six-day retrial.
Salil Korambayil was previously convicted of three counts of rape involving two women in 2023, but his convictions were quashed after he won at the Court of Appeal.
Jurors at Truro Crown Court heard how Korambayil had worked in hospitals in Barnstaple and Truro as a colorectal and vascular surgeon. They heard he raped and choked the women at their homes, one in August 2020, the other in March 2021.
Korambayil, 34, employed a private investigator to look into the pasts of one of his victims which brought new information to light that appeal judges said should be available to a jury.
'Sexual predator'
The retrial was subject to reporting restrictions which delayed publication of the hearing until the jury had reached a verdict.
Both women, who do not know each other and live "miles apart" in different counties, gave evidence in court for a second time.
Prosecutor Bill Baker KC said Korambayil was a "sexual predator" who had "tricked" his way into their "confidence, homes and raped them".
"Both independently said he choked them and vaginally raped them," Baker told the court.
The court heard Korambayil had met the first woman, who was 16 years older than him, after he had added her on Facebook and asked if he "recognised her from the hospital".
They met up on one occasion and had consensual sex but the woman said she had regretted it and had told him it would not happen again because she would need to know him better.
Three weeks later he had messaged her again and arranged to meet between 23 and 26 August 2020.
The jury heard how Korambayil had gone to her flat and after she went to change her clothes, she found him in her bedroom where he held her throat on the edge of the bed and raped her.
Korambayil had told jurors the sex was consensual and the woman had been angry at him for not helping her out financially.
'Who would believe me?'
The court heard the woman had not reported the rape to the police, but after the police had been told about a Facebook post she made, they visited her and asked her if she wanted to make a complaint.
When questioned why she did not report the rape immediately, she told the court "he was a surgeon, I was a woman with mental health problems, who would believe me?".
The second woman met Korambayil after he had viewed a room she was advertising for rent on a website in 2018.
He had not rented the room but contacted her in 2019 asking if she "was still as stunning as ever".
The court heard how he was persistent in his messages to her even when she "fobbed him off".
On the night in question he had brought food to her flat after she had agreed he could come over "for 10 minutes".
The woman said she had been been drinking wine after seeing a friend and had been sat on the floor chatting to Korambayil when she had become unwell.
"Her head started dropping, she started feeling woozy, she felt like she had been drugged, he held her face and kissed her and spat in her mouth," Baker told jurors.
Accessed medical records
He said: "She said she felt really unwell and she asked him to leave, he did not take no for an answer, he said he was working in a few hours and can he sleep on the sofa, to which she agreed."
However, when she went to bed the woman had found Korambayil was already in her bed, at least bare chested.
The court heard she had woken up to him removing her underwear, he had pinned her down, choked her and then raped her twice.
The woman had not initially reported the rape but had been concerned how Korambayil had got her phone number.
She asked the Royal Cornwall Hospital to check if her medical records had been accessed by anyone.
IT executives subsequently found Korambayil had not only accessed her records but those of around 40 others, primarily women aged in their 20s to 40s, including some patients.
Speaking in the witness box, the woman said: "I thought a surgeon would never do anything like that [access her NHS file], it gave me concrete evidence that a surgeon could be a bad person and it gave me the confidence to report him."
Korambayil had previously pleaded guilty to the computer misuse offences and had been given two 12-month sentences for the crimes.
He said he had done it because he did not trust people and it made him feel "comfortable" to know the information about women.
"I wanted to know something about my friends and colleagues so that I felt safe and it made me trust them a bit more," the defendant said.
The court heard how both women had made prior accusations of rape, but that none of the cases had been subject to court action.
One of the women said police had told her they would "deal with one case at a time".
Korambayil is expected to be sentenced at a later date.
