American neurosurgeon Camilo Molina jailed for sexually assaulting woman at Glasgow nightclub

A top neurosurgeon from America who carried out a “predatory” sex attack on a woman at a nightclub has been jailed for two years.

Camilo Molina, 40, preyed on the then 20-year-old victim at Kong in Glasgow city centre on April 5 last year.

Molina approached the woman from behind, put his hand under her skirt and touched her.

Married Molina was a deputy director of spine innovation at Washington University in Ohio and an associate professor.

Molina, of St Louis, Missouri, resigned from his hospital post and has lost his license to practise medicine after he was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman last month.

Sheriff Paul Reid told him at sentencing: “There have been significant consequences for you in regard to your licence to practise medicine and the loss of your home.

“I have considered the references lodged, which illustrate the high regard you hold with your family, friends, colleagues and patients.

“I cannot ignore the predatory nature of your behaviour on the night in question.

“As you saw on the CCTV, the young victim was clearly impacted – you abused your friendship and violated her inexplicably, then labelled her a prostitute afterwards, which she was not.

“I am satisfied there is no alternative to imprisonment.”

Molina, who the court was told still has the support of his wife, was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Glasgow Sheriff Court earlier heard how Molina and friends had been in the city for a conference that day.

They later went out to the city’s west end around 7pm before going to Kong nightclub to continue drinking alcohol.

Molina told jurors that he came into contact with his victim, whom he did not know.

There were claims that he pretended to the woman that he was a police officer, which he refuted.

He also insisted in evidence when challenged by prosecutor Leo McGinn that “nothing overtly sexual” happened between them initially.

CCTV footage played in court showed the pair later in separate areas of the bar, with the woman talking to another man.

But, Mr McGinn described the footage in his closing speech: “Molina appeared and touched her bum with his hand on the right side.

“He placed his hand under her denim skirt.”

The fiscal depute then went on to describe how Molina touched her.

The manager of Kong recalled seeing the woman upset after what happened, and her eyes were “filling up.”

A security guard told jurors the woman “looked like she was crying.”

Molina told jurors that the pair had earlier discussed going back to his hotel room.

He stated that when he touched the woman at the bar, he said: “Don’t mind if I put my hand here, do you? and was told that she ‘did not mind’.”

John Scullion KC, defending, asked if the woman “said anything or reacted in any way to say she was not continuing to consent?”

Molina replied: “No, she didn’t.”

Molina claimed that he initially left the woman with his friends before he returned to the nightclub, where he was stopped by security and spoken to before he was arrested.

John Scullion KC, defending, told the sentencing: “He was in Glasgow speaking at a conference, and it is clear from the evidence that the incident in the nightclub happened after many hours of drinking.

“I do not suggest this as mitigation or a way of an excuse, but it perhaps provides some explanation for an event that otherwise would be out of character.

“His background report contains an acknowledgement by Mr Molina that he may have misjudged the situation between himself and the woman.

“He has respect for the jury’s verdict and does not attempt to undermine the woman or say she didn’t tell the truth, or minimise the likely impact of these events upon her.

“He is a first offender and a US citizen who was born in Colombia and moved to the US as a child.

“Mr Molina worked really hard and established himself as one of the top surgeons in the country in an extremely complex field. He saved many lives by undertaking complex surgery that others would deem impossible.

“The consequences of his conviction have been catastrophic as he has resigned from the Washington University Hospital and his licence to practise medicine has been revoked.”