Canberra massage therapist Timothy Van Eyle is behind bars after he was found guilty of touching a client’s breasts during a treatment in 2019.
Van Eyle, 31, has now been convicted of committing an act of indecency by the ACT Magistrates Court and sentenced to 10 months in jail, to be suspended after two months.
The case has dragged on for five years, after he won an appeal before a single judge in 2022, only to lose when prosecutors took the case to the full bench of the ACT’s Court of Appeal.
Van Eyle had only been working in the massage business for a couple of weeks at the time of the incident.
The woman said she heard Van Eyle ask “do you want me to massage the rest of your chest?”
But Van Eyle said he asked “do you want me to massage the whole of your chest?”
Either way the woman agreed she’d said “sure”.
The woman then described Van Eyle touching her nipples and fondling her breasts, also leaving her chest exposed while the rest of the massage continued.
She said after she left the clinic she started crying, and felt violated.
In court she conceded she may not have seen Van Eyle touch her nipples.
“…but I felt it, so I can’t 100 per cent confirm that I saw his fingers touch my nipples but I felt it and that’s my recollection,” she said.
‘Trust is particularly important in a massage environment’: Magistrate
An initial court of appeal ruling by Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson found it was possible there had been a misinterpretation.
“It is entirely reasonably possible on examining all the evidence that the complainant and the appellant have both honestly reported different perceptions of the treatment,” she said at the time.
“In my view, that is a reasonable possibility in this case.
“That is, it is a reasonable possibility that the appellant was giving truthful evidence when he testified that he believed the complainant had indicated consent to the massage he undertook.”
Justice Loukas Karlsson said she had been left with a reasonable doubt about Van Eyle’s guilt.
But the appeal court struck that out and today Special Magistrate Jane Campbell sentenced Van Eyle to time in custody.
She said Van Eyle had touched the woman’s breast in a sexual manner for sexual gratification.
“The victim was in a particularly vulnerable position,” Special Magistrate Campbell said.
She added that it was a serious breach of trust, and “this trust is particularly important in a massage environment”.
The court heard Van Eyle had continued to be employed by the massage business after his arrest.
A form used in the business was updated to include “I understand there will be no treatment to erogenous zones”.
Special Magistrate Campbell noted many of Van Eyle’s clients are older people, and some are on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
She said he may not be able to treat some of them in the future as his ability to work with vulnerable people, including those on the NDIS, will now be curtailed.
Van Eyle will be free in June.