A Zambian-born doctor who planted a tube in his arm filled with someone else's blood to divert a Saskatchewan sexual assault investigation arrived in South Africa Wednesday after Canada deported him.

Leslie Mashokwe, the head of communications for South Africa's Department of Home Affairs, told CBC that John Schneeberger has the status of "permanent resident" of that country, and will live at his mother's home in Durban.

FROM MAY 13, 2004: Top court rejects sex assault doctor's appeal

Schneeberger was convicted in 1999 on two sexual assault charges, as well as a count of obstructing justice.

When investigators accused Schneeberger of sexual assault in 1992 and took blood samples from him, the DNA didn't match that from the crime scene.

Schneeberger had planted a plastic tube filled with someone else's blood in his arm. When he was ordered to provide a blood sample, he offered to do the procedure himself and took it from the plastic tube in his arm instead of from his vein.

Allegations from another victim eventually led to Schneeberger's 1999 conviction.

He gave his first victim, then 23, a paralysing drug before assaulting her in a hospital examining room. The second victim was a teenager molested in 1994 and 1995.

Schneeberger served two-thirds of a six-year sentence and had hoped to remain in Regina. But Citizenship and Immigration officials ordered his deportation in June of this year.

Schneeberger came to Canada in 1987 and became a citizen in 1993. His citizenship was revoked in December 2003 after officials discovered he had lied on his application.

His status then reverted to that of permanent resident, clearing the way for the deportation order.