HARTFORD — Dr. Edwin Njoku was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday for fourth-degree sexual assault and tampering with a witness.
Njoku, who faces additional charges that he sexually assaulted female patients, was convicted Aug. 1. He was acquitted of the more serious charge of first-degree sexual assault.
The fourth-degree sexual asasult conviction was for improperly touching a patient and the tampering with a witness conviction was for Njoku sending a minister to ask his accuser to drop her allegations.
Njoku, 53, had his medical license revoked last year. He was free on bond until his conviction, and has been jailed on $3.5 million bail since then.
Jurors, who deliberated about five hours, found Njoku guilty of putting his mouth on the woman’s breast in an exam room at his East Hartford office on Oct. 22, 2011.
The woman testified that Njoku got on top of her as she lay on an examination table and raped her.
The doctor testified that it was the woman who made sexual advances, reaching into his pants and grabbing him. Pattis painted a picture of an accuser with mental problems and a drug dependency.