Court orders names of escorts be revealedSurgeon and prostitutes were 'taking a lot of drugs'
A Sydney neurosurgeon abandoned a dying prostitute then called to check if any other escorts had spoken to police about her death, a court heard yesterday.
Suresh Surendranath Nair, 42, is charged with the manslaughter of Victoria McIntyre, 23, who died of cocaine toxicity in February 2009. He allegedly supplied her with the drug after engaging her for sexual services at his luxury Elizabeth Bay apartment.
He is also accused of murdering Brazilian student Suellen Domingues Zaupa, 22, in November 2009. She died in his apartment after he allegedly supplied her with cocaine.
Anna Monaghan, the director of HM Escorts, the agency that hired Ms McIntyre, yesterday told a committal hearing at Downing Centre Local Court that Mr Nair told her in the aftermath of the woman's death that he had called an ambulance and administered CPR but then fled his home in panic.
"When [paramedics] got there they took over ... I just had to get out of there," Mr Nair said, according to Ms Monaghan.
Ms Monaghan also told the court that Mr Nair had called her in the aftermath of the incident to ask her "if the girls made statements [to police]".
A total of four women were sent to Mr Nair's apartment over the course of February 14 and 15 2009 for a booking that cost between $500 and $700 per hour, per escort, Ms Monaghan said.
Two women, whose first names were Siobhan and Tanya, were sent first, a third woman known as "Emily", whose real name has been suppressed, was sent sometime later in the evening.
And a woman Ms Monaghan knew as "Lisa" - whose real name was Victoria McIntyre - had just started with HM Escorts and was sent along as well.
A couple of weeks after Ms McIntyre was found dead in the apartment, Emily told Ms Monaghan the group were "taking a lot of drugs and they were putting it in their orifices", she said.
Ms Monaghan also told the court she and a colleague named Angela Bishop made a number of "safety calls" to the women on the booking.
These calls were made to check on the women's well-being and also process any further payment needed when Mr Nair extended the booking, she said.
Ms Bishop made a safety call to Ms McIntyre at 10.30am on February 15 after learning that Emily and another woman had been "sent to fill a script" at a nearby pharmacy, Ms Monaghan said.
During the phone call, at which Ms Monaghan was present, Ms McIntyre told Ms Bishop that she was "having fun" and would stay on and complete the booking.
Emily said she and the other woman were gone for 45 minutes and when they came back "the ambulance was there".
"We had no idea that the ambulance was there for [Ms McIntyre]," Ms Monaghan said.
Mr Nair's barrister, Peter Hamill SC, questioned Ms Monaghan about why she did not display more concern for her employees.
"Were you not concerned that one of your escorts may be in difficulty?" Mr Hamill asked.
"When we spoke to her she was fine and having fun," Ms Monaghan replied.
"Yes, but when you spoke to one of the other girls she said she had got back and there was an ambulance there," Mr Hamill said.
Ms Monaghan said she then "tried ringing her".
Earlier in the day, magistrate Carolyn Bucknell rejected a prosecution application that the names of Ms Monaghan and six other escorts be suppressed to protect their identities.
Prosecutor Kate Thompson told the court that the women were scared of the effect revelations they worked in the sex industry would have on their lives.
Ms Thompson also said the publication of their real names would discourage other people working in the industry from coming forward in the future.
Mr Hamill SC said the test for suppressing the women's names was necessity and it was not necessary to keep their identities secret because they could be compelled by law to testify.
Ms Barkell ordered that all names but Emily's be suppressed because Emily lived in the United States and could not be compelled by NSW Police to testify.
Mr Nair worked as a neurosurgeon at Nepean Public and Private hospitals.
His medical registration was suspended in November last year.
The hearing continues today.
ge.robinson@smh.com.au
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