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The Accra Circuit Court hearing the case of alleged sodomy of a 16-year-old senior high school student by a medical doctor yesterday heard the victim�s evidence in camera. The hearing began about 9 a.m. and lasted over three hours in the judge�s chambers, where the victim�s evidence was taken for the first time. When the case was called, the prosecutors, the defence counsel, as well as Dr Sulley Ali-Gabass, the medical doctor at the centre of the case and the victim, proceeded to the judge�s chambers. Hours into the hearing, an official from the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) was invited by the court. After the hearing had ended at 12.45 p.m., the court, presided over by Mrs Rita Agyeman-Budu, adjourned the trial today. Victim�s identity protected To protect the identity of the victim, the court asked the official from CHRAJ and the police to shield the young victim from media cameras that were on the court premises. The victim, dressed in a grey T-shirt over a pair of blue jeans, was spotted wearing a red cap, with his head and face bent down and covered with a black suit, shielding him completely from media and public attention. He was taken into a waiting police vehicle and driven away. Dr Ali-Gabass, who was seen handcuffed and dressed in (his usual) short-sleeved shirt over a pair of brown khaki trousers, was also taken to the main exit of the court into a waiting taxi and taken away. Attempts by the media to know what transpired in the judge�s chambers yielded no outcome, as both the prosecutors and the defence counsel were tight-lipped. Background According to the facts of the case, the victim resides at Kasoa, while Dr Ali-Gabass is a medical practitioner at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital. In September 2013, the victim encountered Dr Ali-Gabass on Facebook and they became friends. �They chatted online and communicated by phone for a while until, in October 2013, Ali-Gabass arranged and met the victim at the Kasoa New Market area, where he forcibly had anal sex with him in his car,� the prosecution said. About 7 p.m. on December 28, 2013, they met again at the same venue and Ali-Gabass had anal sex with the victim, after which he offered him a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone and GH�20. After the second sexual act, the student became ill, and on informing the doctor, he prescribed paracetamol tablets for the victim. The act was repeated at the same venue in February 2014. According to the prosecution, in March and April 2014, Ali-Gabass lured the victim to his (doctor�s) house at Alajo in Accra and again had anal sex with him. �After the fifth incident, the victim started experiencing excruciating pains and complained to Ali-Gabass to give him money to attend hospital but he refused. �Rather, he threatened the victim persistently via phone calls and managed to put fear in him from disclosing his ordeal,� the prosecution added. Victim�s condition It said in August this year, the victim�s condition became so critical that he was sent to the Ahmadiyya Mission Hospital at Agona Swedru, from where he was later referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for further treatment. �Ali-Gabass was informed of the boy�s condition and he gave GH�800 to the victim�s elder brother to cater for his medical expenses,� it stated. The victim has since undergone anal fistula and anal rectal abscess surgical operations at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. While receiving treatment at the facility, he was diagnosed as being HIV positive and he mentioned Ali-Gabass�s name as the one responsible for his complications. �When interrogated, the accused admitted having known the victim as a friend. He said he had on three occasions visited the victim at Kasoa and also once took the student to his house at Alajo. He, however, denied having unnatural carnal knowledge of him,� the prosecution added.