An Indian-origin physiotherapist has been sentenced to 11 months in jail and three strokes of caning for molesting a teenager during treatment.
Luke Manimaran Degarajoo, 43, was sentenced on Wednesday for touching the 18-year-old girl inappropriately during a physiotherapy session in his clinic in March 2017. She visited him seeking treatment for back and hip pain, the Strait Times reported.
At that time, Degarajoo told the girl the treatment session would last 15 minutes and directed her to a massage bed in a therapy room. Meanwhile, the victim's friend waited outside and the door to the room was left half shut.
During the massage, the physiotherapist told the teenager to remove her top and loosen her shorts. She complied thinking it as part of the treatment. While massaging her, Degarajoo molested her twice after rolling down her underwear and shorts, the daily said.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Gail Wong said: "The victim felt uncomfortable by the contact but did not shout or ask for help as she was unsure if it was part of the treatment or not."
The massage ended when the victim heard the physiotherapist speaking to her friend who had glanced into the room and was surprised to find her nude.
When confronted, Degarajoo claimed the girl needed a "deep massage" as her injury was "very bad". He later gave her a report detailing his assessment of her condition.
She did not complain initially as she was unsure if the way he touched her was part of the treatment. However, the teenager told her friend about her ordeal after they left the clinic and made a police report.
The physiotherapist is now out on a 10,000 Singapore dollars bail after the court granted his request to defer his sentence as he had to settle some personal matters.
He will surrender himself on April 20 to begin serving his sentence.
