THE disgraced doctor dubbed the "Butcher of Bega" will be behind bars for a minimum of two years, a sentence his victim has slammed as being inadequate.

Graeme Reeves was today sentenced to a maximum of three and a half years in prison for the crime, and for indecently assaulting two patients and committing fraud.

NSW District Court Judge Greg Woods described the 60-year-old Bega doctor's treatment of the women as "reprehensible".

In March, a jury found him guilty of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on widow Carolyn DeWaegeneire with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm in 2002.



Last month, she told Judge Woods that the doctor had cut off her entire genitals, "the very core of my being".

Outside court today, Ms DeWaegeneire told the Sydney Morning Herald: "Until now I thought the law was to protect the public and the people. I have now learnt otherwise.

"I was hoping that a woman would be treated equal to a man."

Asked what sentence Reeves should have been given, Ms DeWaegeneire said: "If your penis was cut off and your scrotum cut off how long would you want the man to serve?"

'The doctor has played the depression card'

Ms DeWaegeneire disappointment was echoed by activist Medical Error Action Group head Lorraine Long, who helped expose the case.



"It's a day for justice," Ms Long said.



"(But) to get three and a half years for those (crimes) in total is just inadequate.



"I would have expected double that sentence."



The court had heard Reeves was suffering from major clinical depression, a personality disorder and impotence at the time of the offences.



Ms Long said Reeves had "played the depression card".



"The judge has considered the depression of Reeves over and above the injuries and harm ... that he has caused to his patients," she said.



"That is where I think the doctor has played the depression card and he's succeeded."

No remorse for 'grossly wrong' conduct

Reeves, a former obstetrician and gynaecologist whose offences were committed in the NSW south coast town of Bega had shown no remorse for his “grossly wrong” conduct, Judge Woods said.

In April, Reeves was found guilty of indecently assaulting two women but acquitted of inappropriately touching three patients at a judge-alone trial.



Two months earlier, he pleaded guilty to obtaining a financial advantage by deception, involving his breaching a ban by carrying out obstetric procedures.

Ms DeWaegeneire was a 58-year-old widow when she sought treatment for a small patch of discoloured skin on her labia, later identified as a form of pre-cancer.



The jury accepted that the doctor told her he was going to remove the tiny lesion, but never mentioned taking anything else.



When she awoke from the operation, she learned he had removed far more - including her clitoris.

In sentencing today, Judge Woods said Reeves must never again be permitted to practice medicine where it involved contact with patients.

He was immediately taken into custody.

- With AAP and The Daily Telegraph