A predatory Egyptian dentist who was running a clinic in Sydney despite being a convicted sex offender has admitted sexually abusing three female patients.
Maged Fouad Farag, 62, pleaded guilty to five counts of aggravated non-consensual sexual touching and appeared in the Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday ahead of his sentencing.
Farag, who was found guilty of similar offences committed against a 17-year-old girl in 2002, molested the women at his practice in Rockdale over a five-year period to 2024, but remains out on bail under home detention and a $1 million surety.
The court court Farag abused his victims, who were international students aged 19, 21, and 25, from Nepal and Columbia, under the guise of carrying out “massage techniques, physiotherapy techniques, or skin checks”, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
After his arrest police seized a contract that made patients consent to “unrestricted physically contact” and stated that breaking confidentiality or complaining to authorities could result in a fee of “$500,000 or higher”.
One victim, who was aged 19 when she was abused, read an impact statement to the court while being assisted by a support person, and said Farag had taken advantage of her isolation after moving to Australia.
“I was young, independent, trying to survive in a completely different country away from the comfort of family,” she said.
“[Farag] knew I had very little support around me and he used that to his advantage.”
A second victim told the court Farag made her strip naked for a “mandatory skin check” before inspecting her body with a light and touching her genitals, but said she trusted him because he was a doctor, and worried that reporting him might affect her visa.
She said she eventually went to police after reading a Google review in 2024 making indecent assault allegations against Farag and becoming angry after realising he had abused others also.
“Farag is not a man who made a mistake … he knew what he was doing, he did it again,” she said in her victim impact statement.
Farag’s defence lawyers told the court their client suffered from depression, which contributed to the offending, and said a psychiatrist had assessed his risk of reoffending as “below average”.
Judge John Pickering said he had doubts about the depression defence, as the diagnosis had been made by the psychiatrist two weeks prior during a single session.
The judge will also take into account an additional charge of intentionally record an intimate image without consent while sentencing Farag next week.
Farag cannot be deported for his crimes as he is a dual Australian and Egyptian citizen.
Header image: Left, Maged Fouad Farag (Facebook). Right, Farag being arrested (NSW Police).
