Stripped of his medical license and denounced as a pervert, an oath-breaker and a betrayer, 65-year-old Sikandar Murad could not bring himself to look up Wednesday until told to by the judge.
Wednesday was sentencing for the former Little Rock physician, six weeks after he pleaded guilty to two counts of video voyeurism for setting up two secret video cameras and spying on an aide as she used the toilet in his Little Rock Walk-In Clinic, 3917 W. 12th St.
The cameras, one disguised as a phone charger and the other as a digital clock, were used to record the 26-year-old woman on video. Murad also made still photos from the recordings that he kept on his cellphone.
Prosecutors had agreed to drop two other counts of the Class D felony charge, as part of his plea agreement, exposing him to a potential 12-year prison sentence. As Murad stood before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Melanie Martin, the only thing certain was that Murad was going to have to register as a sex offender.
He had not raised his head until that moment during the 75-minute proceeding as former patients, like Helen Holt and Kristen Marriott, psychologist Peggy Pack and his oldest son, Dr. Abdullah Murad, had come before the judge seeking mercy, as his attorneys Bill James and Alex Morphis asked for probation.
Sikandar Murad is a broken man who is no danger to anyone, Morphis said. He has lost almost everything he once valued, the lawyer told the judge. Gone is his business, his medical license, the respect the Pakistani native once received as a doctor and his cherished ability to work as a healer, a skill that he had devoted most of his life to, the attorney said.
Gone too is Murad’s wife, killed in a Texas car crash shortly after he was arrested. Furthermore, Murad’s health is declining, Morphis said, stating that Murad has diabetes and his coronary artery disease recently required him to undergo surgery.
Citing sentencing guidelines for a first-time offender like Murad, the judge agreed to probation, sentencing him to six years of supervised release and a $1,500 fine, after acknowledging the suffering and betrayal his victim had been forced to endure.
Murad chose not to ask for mercy directly, which could have opened him to questioning about what he would have done. Instead, he was allowed to briefly address the court, an opportunity he used to apologize.
“I am very sorry about everything that has happened, and I pray for everyone’s forgiveness,” he said, his voice trailing off to a little more than a whisper.
Murad did not meet his victim’s gaze when she turned to address him while describing for the judge how the man she had thought of a friend, benefactor and mentor turned out to be spying on her in her most guarded moments in a time and place when she thought she was safe and protected.
In a “horrendous act of perversion… Mr. Murad here completely betrayed all trust that I had in him. I believed he was a good person,” the woman testified. “Since discovering what we know now, I’ve been struggling with anxiety, embarrassment, fear, vulnerability amongst other things. The security I once felt has completely been replaced by the constant fear of being watched. It’s exhausting to live with the feeling that my privacy can be taken away at any moment; it’s exhausting to check every single bathroom for hidden cameras.
“I won’t call you doctor, because a doctor is someone that heals, not someone that harms,” she said. “You betrayed not only me and my privacy but also the oath you took when you entered your profession.”
Deputy prosecutor Elizabeth Touchstone asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence, 12 years in prison, citing the investigation by Detective Bailee Toro that showed Murad’s crime was not a spontaneous act, but rather a monthslong effort that required Murad to have electric outlets installed in the restroom where none had been before.
The recordings found by the detective — watched privately by the judge — also show Murad setting up the devices and checking to make sure the cameras get the most revealing views, the prosecutor said.
Also significant, Touchstone told the judge, was how data from Murad’s cellphone demonstrated his “weird fascination” with the woman to the extent that he had looked up the woman’s home address and then secretly driven by the residence.
Murad’s victim went to police on June 4, 2024, after she discovered the charger-shaped camera in the employee’s only restroom and figured out what it was. She discovered she had been secretly recorded by reviewing the device’s memory card. The resulting investigation took about six weeks, with Murad arrested on July 26, 2024, at his office.
Released from jail the following day, he has been free ever since.
John Lynch
John Lynch has been covering criminal cases and civil litigation at the Pulaski County Courthouse for 20 years. In his 35-year career as a reporter and editor, he has also worked at newspapers in Texas and South Carolina. In his spare time, he collects baseball caps.
