Masseur found guilty of molesting female customer at TCM clinic

SINGAPORE — A woman went to a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinic to seek treatment for shoulder and back aches, but ended up getting massaged on other areas on her body instead.

The masseur, Wang Lin, was found guilty on Friday (Feb 28) of molesting the customer on Dec 16, 2017 such as by “lightly squeezing the sides of her breasts”.

During his trial, the 47-year-old Chinese national alleged that the victim had asked her to massage her breasts, and that she was given a choice between a male masseur or a female masseuse.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur rejected his and the defence witnesses’ testimony, while finding that the victim was an “unusually convincing” witness.

Wang will return to court next week for sentencing and remains out on bail. He could be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or any combination of the three.

The court heard during the trial that the victim decided to go to the TCM clinic, which had just opened at the time, on her friend’s recommendation. The clinic’s location was redacted from court documents.

Wang massaged her while she was fully clothed on Dec 2, 2017. Nothing happened then, and she bought a package comprising one-hour treatments for S$588.

She went back for a second massage two weeks later. That was when Wang molested her.

The prosecution’s case was that Wang told her to remove her top for treatment purposes before massaging her, then unhooked her bra during the massage without her permission.

The victim testified in court that Wang handed her a towel before the massage.

After that, she removed her T-shirt, kept her bra on and covered herself with the towel from her neck to her calves before lying face down on the massage bed.

Wang came in, applied oil to her bare back and eventually removed her bra. She testified that she thought he had done this to avoid staining her bra with the oil.

When he asked her to turn over, she said that she ensured the towel was still covering her before he began massaging her neck and shoulders. She then felt him molesting her under the towel, but said that she closed her eyes tightly as she did not know what else to do.

The victim also testified that when Wang finished massaging her and left the room, he told her that during the next session, he had to “concentrate more on the chest area”.

She put her clothes back on but did not tell the front counter staff what had happened, as she just wanted to leave.

Later that day, she told two friends what had happened.

She lodged a police report at Changkat Changi Neighbourhood Police Post the next day, after a clinic employee told her over the phone that it could have been a misunderstanding.