Masseur Graham Stannard, 47, repeatedly touched the “attractive” half-naked 25 year-old between her legs, saying he was encouraged by her moans of pleasure.
However, the woman insists she did not consent and her involuntary moans were a response to Stannard massaging her painful sciatica - caused by an irritated nerve.
Stannard, of Fleetwood Avenue, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault at his therapy room in Bedford Hill, Balham on August 2, 2020.
The Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court jury viewed the woman’s police interview, in which she confirmed it was her first appointment with Stannard, a practitioner of Zen-Su deep release massage.
He is the boss of Healing Zen Massage and has a suite at the beauty salon she visited. “He was quite well-known in the therapy, massage world and had good reviews,” the woman explained.
“When I removed my mask he said: ‘Wow. You’ve got such a lovely smile,’ and I thought that was the first thing out of place.”
She stripped-down to her knickers and lied face-down on the massage table as Stannard began. “He said: ‘It’s really nice you are making those noises. I’d like to hear more of them’.
“They were just the normal noises of a massage,” she told the trial, explaining Stannard put his hand between her legs after massaging her hip area.
“He just went for it and touched me four times or something, quite hard under my knickers so it was not a mistake.
“I went completely quiet. I always thought in a situation like that I’d be shouty and tell him to: ‘F*** off,’ but I just completely froze.
“I thought: ‘F***, he’s going to do it again,’ and this time he really went for it.
“He asked me to turn over. I was topless and he looked stoked, so happy with eyes wide open, buzzing.
“He said: ‘You’ve got such an amazing body,’ he was ecstatic and said he was going to do my front and I thought he would do something worse.”
She said Stannard hastily concluded the massage then tried to discuss it with her. “He was close to my face and from then it was just creepy.
“He returned after ten minutes and he was like: ‘God, that was amazing. Maybe I can take you out to dinner and do a massage after that.’
“He gave me a hug and was going to try and kiss me and I left and called my boyfriend and burst into tears and told him what happened.
“I was sitting on the kerb, breathing heavily, it was horrible. I walked around for twenty minutes dry heaving and had a bath when I got home because I had oil all over me and wanted to get it off.”
She then received a text from Stannard, which read: ‘Lovely to see you. Let me know about home massage.’
Earlier prosecutor Warwick Tatford told the jury: “This defendant has worked as a full-time masseur for over eleven years and has a proper business.
“No doubt his regular clients think good of him, but he gave into sexual temptation that day when he gave a massage to this twenty-five year-old lady, an attractive lady as you will see in the video.
“It was under her knickers so must have been deliberate and he seemed to be enjoying it and she did not consent to it.”
Stannard did not deny touching the woman between her legs when questioned by police. “His case is she either consented and was excited or if she didn’t consent he genuinely believed she was.”
The prosecutor rejected this, telling the jury: “He just fancied her and couldn’t resist sexually assaulting her.
“It was quite a forceful massage and she made noises when he hit a painful spot. She talks about moaning, but not with a sexual meaning.
“He started imitating what she was saying, like it was turning into some sort of pornographic fantasy.
“The defendant seems to have been caught up in the excitement of it all and acting out a sexual pleasure.
“He told the officers he was sexually aroused and had crossed the line. That’s quite close to admitting sexual assault and he says he got carried away in the moment and that it felt consensual.”
When cross-examined the woman, who has a high-pressure desk job, was asked about the noises she made and said it was “wrong” to conclude she was “aroused” during the massage.
She was asked why she did not ask Stannard to stop, replying: “It happened so quickly, I was in shock. I didn’t know what to say.”
Additionally, the woman was questioned as to whether moving her bum and hips could be “misconstrued” as joining in with the sexual behaviour.
Trial continues…………….
No comments:
Post a Comment