Jury: doctor guilty

Karen Hart
A JURY yesterday found a Geelong doctor who injected women with pethidine in exchange for oral sex guilty of ten counts of drug trafficking.
Mario Marchesani, 79, of Newtown, showed no emotion as the jury of six men and six women handed down its verdict at Geelong County Court after more than five hours of deliberation.
The sexual predator, who had pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of drug trafficking, was remanded in custody until sentencing for preparation of medical reports.
Judge Ian Roberstson directed the jury on Tuesday to find Marchesani not guilty on five of the 15 charges on points of law.
The trial was not the first time the drug trafficker had appeared before the courts.
In 1994 a Geelong magistrate fined Marchesani $6000 without conviction after finding him guilty on 48 counts of failing to comply with medical regulations and five of prescribing a drug of dependence to drug addicts.
The medical doctor’s son, Anthony Marchesani, who had earlier given evidence in the trial, held his hands on his head as the jury foreman handed down the findings.
The court earlier heard how Marchesani injected two former prostitutes and drug addicts with pethidine in exchange for oral sex.
One witness, a mother of two, who was not in court yesterday, cried as she told how the drug trafficker preyed on her addiction over 12 years with prescriptions of numerous painkillers and injections of the highly-addictive drug pethidine.
“He prescribed me a lot of painkillers. He wanted to keep me on drugs to keep me going there,” the witness said.
“All he wanted was to keep me there for his own needs and wants. I was only there for an injection.”
The witness said Marchesani would prepare an injection of pethidine and she would inject herself.
She would then perform oral sex on him while he sat in a chair.
Marchesani will be sentenced during a hearing in Melbourne on March 5.