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Two charges against a former London hospital technician who was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a patient were withdrawn by the Crown Wednesday because the main witness can’t testify.

Charges of sexual assault and administering an overpowering drug to commit sexual assault were laid against Vincent Gauthier, 25, last June, prompting an unprecedented response from the London Health Sciences Centre to contact more than 800 patients who had contact with him.

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His Ontario Court preliminary hearing was slated for Friday. However, general Crown counsel Fraser Kelly told Justice of the Peace Anna Hampson that the charges wouldn’t be moving forward.

The complainant, a key witness in the case, is too physically ill to provide evidence, he said.

The brief hearing capped off what began with an explosive set of allegations that rocked the hospital and its protocols.

The hospital received the complaint in April and launched an internal probe. The police were called in May and began an investigation.