A REGIONAL NSW gynaecologist "deliberately" performed a "massively disfiguring" operation on a female patient without her consent, leaving her without her entire genitalia, a court has heard.

The doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is standing trial in the Sydney District Court charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Carolyn De Waegenaire, as well as an offence of excising or extracting her clitoris unnecessarily.

The doctor has pleaded not guilty, and today his barrister told the jury his client performed the operation because he was “trying to save her life”.

Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen SC has told the jury that Ms De Waegenaire had a consultation with the practitioner in 2002, allegedly telling her that the operation known as a “simple vulvectomy” would be a “relatively minor procedure”.

He allegedly said “only a small flap of skin” would be excised and she would be in hospital for about three days.

Ms Cunneen told the jury that Ms De Waegenaire would tell the court that at no stage did the doctor inform her that her clitoris or any other part of her anatomy would be touched.

"The accused deliberately performed this surgery, he did it either deliberately, to hurt her, or recklessly - without considering her human suffering," Ms Cunneen said.

"He did it without lawful cause or excuse, because there was no reason to take so much tissue ... He did it with intent to cause the grievous bodily harm that he did."

Defence counsel John Stratton SC told the court there was no contest that his client had done the operation.

“(My client) wasn’t trying to mutilate or harm Ms De Waegenaire, he was trying to save her life,” Mr Stratton said.

Ms De Waegenaire is the first witness in the trial, being heard before Judge Greg Woods.



Originally published as Doctor 'wrongly removed genitalia'