Former Dartmouth medical doctor convicted of child rape

A former medical doctor at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford was convicted on Tuesday, Oct. 22 for rape of a child aggravated by age difference, electronic enticement of a child for commercial sex, possession of child pornography, posing a child in the nude and sending obscene matter to a child by a jury trial in the Fall River Superior Court, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Dartmouth resident Sujan Kayastha, 42, was sentenced immediately after his conviction to a state prison sentence of 12 years followed by five years of supervised probation upon release from custody, said Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III.

Kayastha met the victim, then a 14-year-old boy, in September of 2018 online and later exchanged nude photos and videos with the child. The defendant knew that the victim was a minor.

On Dec. 8, 2018, Kayastha drove to Attleboro where he picked up the boy, who was living in a group home in the area.

Kayastha drove the boy to the Shangri-La Motel in Seekonk where he paid the minor $200 to engage in a sex act with him, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Attleboro Police recovered online records, including communications between the defendant and the victim, along with nude photographs and videos that were exchanged.

“The defendant was convicted of extremely disturbing and demented conduct involving a very vulnerable 14-year-old boy,” Quinn said. “The sentence imposed by the court was well deserved.”