NORTHAMPTON — The defense and commonwealth have rested in the case of Edward Kostek, a former physical therapist from South Hadley facing two counts of rape of a former patient, but not before Kostek himself took the stand in Hampshire Superior Court in his own defense.

Kostek has previously been convicted of indecent assault and battery on a patient stemming from an incident that occurred in 2019. The current charges are from a patient Kostek saw while working at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in 2012 who came forward after hearing about the previous incident through a mutual acquaintance. As a matter of policy, the Gazette does not identify alleged victims of sexual assaults.

Though on trial for the 2012 incident, Kostek spent much of his time on the stand discussing the patient he saw in 2019 that led to his initial conviction. Jurors in the case are not privy to the fact that Kostek has previously been found guilty, but the victim in that case has testified in the current trial to establish a common pattern of operation or criminal intent by the prosecution.

The woman in the 2019 case accused Kostek of touching her improperly around her breasts and buttocks over the course of several sessions during treatment for a neck injury.

Kostek has claimed he had examined scarring the woman had around her breast area as a result of breast augmentation surgery, but denied touching her inappropriately in any way. He said he had wanted to examine the scarring because he felt the woman may have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or EDS, a condition that can cause joint pain along with abnormal scarring. He said he had asked permission to see the scars and the woman had agreed to show him.

“I don’t think she was too receptive of it,” Kostek said when asked by defense attorney Luke Ryan how the woman reacted when told she may have EDS. “I think she was pretty dismissive and didn’t want to talk about it.”

Kostek testified that he never asked the woman to remove her bra, and that he always kept the door ajar to the facility’s private rooms, where both women claimed their respective incidents took place.

On cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Covington challenged Kostek’s narrative of events involving the 2019 patient. He questioned how Kostek could have examined the patient’s breast area without requiring the removal of her bra, and wondered why Kostek would have examined a patient’s breast with the door open and other staff and patients walking around the facility.

Covington also asked Kostek about why references to EDS are not included in the patient’s physical therapy report, only in an email sent to the woman’s primary care physician.

“It’s in the medical record, but I do agree that it probably should have been in the physical therapy record as well as documentation,” Kostek said in response.

Regarding the woman Kostek saw as a patient in 2012, whose charges of rape Kostek is on trial for, he said he had “no independent memory” of her as he last saw her 13 years ago.

The woman testified that during their first session together, Kostek took her to a private room, instructed her to remove all her clothing and inappropriately touched private areas of her body. At her second appointment, she was again asked to remove her clothes and this time, the woman alleged Kostek touched her private areas inappropriately before proceeding to digitally penetrate her multiple times.

Although she initially did not come forward, the alleged victim later felt the need to due to having a mutual acquaintance with the woman who Kostek has previously been convicted of indecent assault against.

Much of the questioning involving that patient revolved around a Facebook friend request the woman sent to Kostek after her visits to him were completed. Kostek accepted the friend request some time later and then promptly messaged her, saying he was not always on the social media platform but was happy to stay in touch.

Asked by Covington, Kostek said he wanted to carry a “professional, physical therapy relationship” with the woman. He also said that he had never told anyone that he had messaged her, neither his colleagues, supervisors or his wife.

Though the commonwealth had rested its case on Thursday, the defense called several more witnesses to the stand over the next few days to try and support Kostek’s claims of innocence.

Witnesses included Teingo West, a physical therapist and former coworker of Kostek’s, chiropractor Mark Davini, Northampton Police Detective Adam Van Buskirk and Sebastien Poirier, who served as an intern with Kostek around the same time the alleged rape in 2012 took place.

In a statement submitted to the Gazette, the Kostek family said, “We fully support Ed in the fight to prove his innocence from these unsubstantiated, false allegations. We appreciate the continued overwhelming support from the community including his colleagues, patients and friends.”

Court will resume on Wednesday with both the prosecution and defense giving closing arguments before the jury begins to deliberate on a verdict.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.