Dr. Tomifumi Onishi: Three Cases Of Woman-Beating Filed Against MD Anderson Doc In Eight Months (UPDATED)

Tomifumi Onishi: Not in the office today

UPDATE: Charges against Dr. Onishi were dropped on December 17. According to one court document, the reason for the dismissal is "the interest of justice." When asked to elaborate, Dr. Onishi's attorney declined to explain the DA's reasoning any further.

Apparently Tomifumi Onishi is having a little trouble getting the message that domestic violence is not okay. The Tokyo-bred MD Anderson oncologist and researcher is now being held in the Harris County Jail without bond after his third domestic violence arrest since March.

(Update: An MD Anderson spokeswoman tells Hair Balls Onishi "is not and never was" a paid employee there; instead he breifly held an unpaid position in April 2010.)

That was when a complaint was filed in the Harris County Courthouse alleging that Onishi bit and scratched his fiancé at their Med Center-area apartment.

According to other court documents, while out on $2,500 bond, on July 13, Onishi assaulted the woman a second time, this time very brutally. According to the probable cause report, the woman told an HPD translator that Onishi threw her to the floor in their apartment and stepped on her throat. She then stated that she tried to run, but Onishi grabbed her face and throat and poked both of her eyes, and then capped it all by punching her in the face.

The report states that Onishi fled when she screamed, and the doctor was not on the scene when police arrived. A week after the alleged incident, the woman told authorities she was still suffering from whiplash-type injuries

After his arrest a couple of weeks after the incident, Onishi's bond in the initial case was revoked and reset at $50,000. A protective order was taken out, in which Onishi, who by then had moved to a condo in the Museum District, was barred from all contact with the woman.

But on Wednesday, he was allegedly back to his old ways.

Rice University Police arrested him for "causing bodily harm" of an unspecified nature to the same woman.

While the first two cases were filed as misdemeanors, this time around Onishi is facing a third-degree felony for an enhanced violation of the protective order. As of this writing he is being held without bond.

In his fledgling career as a doctor, perhaps some of Dr. Onishi's most notable research has come in the area of therapy for bones under assault from metastatic breast cancer.

Which, if these complaints are true, might be one of the only things women need fear more than Onishi himself.

We have calls in to the Rice police, MD Anderson, and an attorney Onishi hired after the earliest case; we'll update when and if new details emerge.