A WOMAN told a court yesterday that a psychiatrist indecently assaulted her in his clinic before telling her to keep quiet because, "no one will believe you".

The woman, who is now 50 and wheelchair-bound, told Leeds Crown Court that in 1969, when she was 18, she went to see Dr William Kerr for a psychiatric assessment for an abortion.

She said that the doctor locked her in his treatment room in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and asked her about her sex life, before stripping naked and indecently assaulting her.

The woman is one of 16 former patients of the doctor who claim he either raped or indecently assaulted them at private and NHS hospitals in York, Harrogate, and Ripon, between 1969 and 1988, when he retired.

She told the court the doctor asked her to take her clothes off because he was going to hypnotise her, but she refused.

He then asked her to lie down and close her eyes.

She said that when she opened them again "he was stood next to me with no clothes on. He had nothing on at all".

She said: ''He told me to keep my eyes shut. I couldn't.

''I tried to get away, and as I tried to get away he pushed me back down in the sofa."

The woman told the court that the doctor tried to force her to commit a sex act, but she said: ''I pushed him away, and I got up and I ran.

''I was absolutely horrified. I was only 18 and I just didn't know what he was doing.''

When she said she would tell the authorities, she claimed the doctor laughed and said: "Who is going to believe you?"

She said: "I think he referred to the fact that I was just a dirty little girl, and he was who he was.

"Then he said, 'Believe me, there's no point in telling anybody'."

The woman had her abortion three or four days later, but did not report what had happened to the police until 1997, when she saw newspaper articles about Dr Kerr being arrested for indecent assault.

Dr Kerr, of York, is now 75 and has brain damage.

A previous jury found him unfit to plead, and the present case is a finding-of-facts trial to determine if he committed the acts alleged.

The doctor was arrested in 1997 after one of the women made a complaint to police.

During police interviews, he denied any sexual misconduct or inappropriate behaviour with any of the women.

The hearing was adjourned until today.