A former village doctor is standing trial in Norway accused of raping 87 women and filming the attacks at his surgery and in their homes over the course of 20 years, in what is being described as the biggest sexual abuse scandal in the country’s history.
Arne Bye, 55, is charged with having abused his position in order to obtain sexual contact with a total of 94 women – including two who were children at the time of the alleged assaults.
The oldest woman was 67 years old when she was allegedly raped, while the youngest alleged victims were 14 and 15 years old.
Bye, a former former municipal superintendent, has pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and 35 cases of abuse of position, and faces up to 21 years in prison.
Police seized over 6,000 hours of video material during their investigation, most of which were recordings of gynecological examinations carried out on patients without their knowledge which investigators described as ‘sensitive and detailed’.
According to the indictment, Bye allegedly inserted a ‘deodorant-like’, a ‘bottle-like’ and a cylindrical object into the women without there being any medical reason for doing so.
In shocking testimony to the court in Trøndelag, one woman said the experience had been so painful ‘that I thought I was going to die’.
Woman number 18, as she is being referred to during the trial, told the court on Wednesday that she had gone to her GP’s office with a sore throat before the invasive examination took place.
Despite the nature of her ailment, she said she ended up being examined in her underwear on the bench, reportedly telling the court: ‘I thought that he is my doctor, so I did as he said.’
The women have each described unpleasant, invasive experiences during the gynecological examinations, with many saying that Bye gave them an ‘abdominal massage’.
The indictment describes how the actions ‘happened quickly and unexpectedly’ during gynecological examinations at the doctor’s office at Frosta.
The tiny town of just 2,600 inhabitants has been rocked by the shocking case, with Bye having been a both a public figure and doctor to hundreds of residents there for years.
The lengthy trial has seen the court shown graphic video evidence, all recorded by Bye during the examinations.
‘We have video recordings of the assault itself. In that sense, we have a rather special evidentiary situation in the case, in that large parts of the indictment are illustrated with video material, says the prosecutor,’ state attorney Richard Haugen Lyng said.
Bye claimed in court that he filmed appointments as he feared lawsuits from patients, and claims he never watched the videos, except in connection with the case.
According to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, the video in woman number 18’s case shows Bye positioning several cameras around before he begins examining her.
From the audio of the clip, NRK reports, it appears that Bye asks the woman whether it is painful, and at one point warns her that ‘this is going to hurt’.
Bye originally insisted to investigators that his examination of woman number 18 was not of a sexual nature. But, taking to the witness box on Wednesday, NRK reports that he partially acknowledged the charge of rape.
The 19th woman to stand in the witness box during the trial said that he told her to sit in the gynecologist’s chair several times, despite not having had any previous abdominal complaints.
She reportedly said that Bye’s examinations ‘took a long time’ and all of them had been painful.
The woman’s daughter and sister are also said to be among the alleged victims in the case.
The first concerns about Bye were raised as long ago as 2006 by another doctor in the gynecology ward at the local hospital in nearby Levanger.
One of Bye’s patients, who was attending the hospital for further treatment, reported that her doctor had massaged her genital area during an examination.
She reportedly said that other patients had experienced the same, allegations Bye denied.
Police launched their investigation into him in August 2022 after health authorities alerted them about possible criminal acts.
Bye was allowed to continue in his post until police charges were filed against him in 2023.
Despite the serious accusations against him, Bye has not been remanded in custody, with officers saying that they will continue to monitor the situation but that there is currently no basis for his arrest. The trial continues.
