ONE of the victims of pervert doctor Navin Zala has relived her “sickening internal assault” at the hands of the former Gravesend GP.

Zala was jailed for 11 years on June 19 after he was found guilty of 10 offences of indecent assaults on female patients dating back to the 1980s.

Speaking out after the sentencing at Hove Crown Court, one of his victims told News Shopper: “For several years I had been uncomfortable with Zala checking my breasts, ‘tops’ he would say.

“Matters came to a head when I went to see him with a bout of cystitis.

“What then followed was a shocking, medically unnecessary, lewd and intrusive act which left me in a state of extreme distress.”

The 63-year-old’s crimes first came to light in 2011, when two former patients alleged he had indecently assaulted them on several separate occasions during routine examinations at his surgery in Marling Way.

The woman, whose identity News Shopper has agreed to protect, was subjected to Zala between 1984 and 1988.

She said: “The repeated breast examinations made me very uncomfortable, but the last internal assault, I will not use the word ‘examination’, sickened and distressed me.

“Luckily, unlike some of the victims, I have a strong family situation and support network, and my main feeling when recalling the assaults subsequently was one of anger and impotence, given I knew Zala was still running his surgery.”

The 51-year-old married mother of four who lived in Gravesend was forced to go through the torture of facing Zala one last time during the trial.

She said: “Zala had no real defence, but nevertheless sat smugly in the back of the court whilst his barrister tried every trick in the book to trip me up.

“After this ordeal I was led out of the courtroom and collapsed into tears. I felt I had been made to suffer once more at the hands of Zala.”

Zala, of Marling Way, was arrested on September 29, 2011, and charged with eight counts of indecent assault on two victims. He was later charged with three other counts of indecent assault on another female.

He will also be on the sex offenders’ register for life. Investigating officer, Detective Constable Zoe Traynor, of Kent Police, said: “Zala’s actions were a dreadful abuse of the trust placed in him by his patients.

“They went to their doctor expecting to be treated with care and compassion and instead he abused and betrayed them for his own sexual gratification.

“He assaulted his victims while they were at their most vulnerable and it has taken incredible courage for them to come forward to report his crimes."