Doctor's sex, drugs habit 'out of control

Decade later, one was in court for the manslaughter of a female escort as the other - prominent surgeon Charlie Teo - defended his friend's previous good character.

Dr Teo yesterday told the District Court he held former colleague Suresh Nair in extremely high regard, despite the latter admitting to the manslaughter of a female escort in a drug-fuelled binge and supplying cocaine to another escort who also died in similar circumstances.

Dr Teo said he had agreed to "stick his neck out" for Nair, 42, despite advice to the contrary.

"I have a public profile ... but I felt very strongly that Suresh was a good person and people needed to know that," Dr Teo said. Having visited him twice in jail, Dr Teo said Nair was "very remorseful".

The pair met in early 2000, when Nair became registrar at Prince of Wales Hospital. Dr Teo described Nair as "awkward socially" but said his patient care and skills as a brain surgeon were exemplary.

"I spent so many hours with him, I got to know the real Suresh ... (he was) a peaceful sort of soul who cared very much for his patients and I thought he was an excellent neurosurgeon," Dr Teo said.

But he said if he was ever to discover Nair had performed surgery while under the influence of his drug addiction, his opinion would change.

Since being remanded at Silverwater jail 18 months ago, Nair has been the victim of a vicious assault, which resulted in the loss of some vision.

He also faces deportation to Malaysia because he does not hold Australian citizenship, despite migrating here in 1980 at the age of 11.

Nair's barrister, Peter Hamill SC, said his client's "dreadful, debilitating addiction" had resulted in a "tragic waste: the waste of the lives of the victims . . . there's also the awful waste of Mr Nair's incredible talents, 20 years of work down the drain."

But Judge Toner disagreed, saying Nair was not an addict, but a "binge cocaine user" and there was "one dead body too many".

"(It's) a very indulgent crime to me," he said. "On one occasion it led to a death, and he still did it and another died.