A masseur has today been jailed for sexually assaulting a woman during a deep-tissue massage.

Mahmoud Mohammadi, 60, from Harrogate, massaged the woman on an intimate area during relaxation therapy at his salon in Knaresborough.

Frances Pencheon, prosecuting at York Crown Court, said that Mohammadi had moved the towel which was covering the victim’s body and then sexually assaulted her. The victim “froze” and was “in shock”.

Ms Pencheon said the victim was initially “relaxed and comfortable” at the start of the massage at the salon on Market Place.

“She had a deep-tissue massage, face down with her back and the back of her legs being massaged,” added Ms Pencheon.

It was when Mohammadi told her to turn over the massage took a more sinister turn.

“As she lay there, with her eyes closed, she felt the towel moving,” said Ms Pencheon.

As the victim tried to tuck the towel back under her arms, Mohammadi started massaging an intimate part of her body.

The victim “almost immediately” pulled the towel back up and used her arms to cover herself, but then Mohammadi “leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead”.

As he did so, he told her: 

The victim was “scared” and “wanted to get out of there” as there was no one else on the premises at the time.

Mohammadi then asked her if she knew the “biting technique”, whereupon she got up to leave.

She went out to her car, called her friend but didn’t report the incident to police until four days later because she was “in shock”.

Denied the allegation

Mohammadi, of Cautley Drive, Killinghall, was questioned by police but denied any wrongdoing. He was charged with sexual assault but denied the allegation.

At his trial in March, Mohammadi said “things had been normal” during the massage in the winter of 2022. He claimed he didn’t remove the victim’s towel, touch her on an intimate area nor kiss her on the forehead.

However, the jury found him guilty as charged, which left his career as a masseur in tatters.

He appeared for sentence today (April 30) aided by a Farsi interpreter.

In a statement read out by the prosecution, the victim said she “no longer felt safe going out alone”.

She was “constantly on edge, wary of strangers” and avoided situations where she might be alone with a man. Her trust in people had been “shattered”.

The psychological toll of the incident had been profound, she had since received counselling and suffered with anxiety and depression.

“The journey to recovery is ongoing and the effects of the ordeal shapes her daily life in ways she can never have imagined,” said Ms Pencheon.

Defendant 'had been working right up until the trial'

Defence barrister Jessica Strange said that Mohammadi continued to deny the allegation.

She said he had an “unblemished record as a masseuse for the last 10 years” and had been working “right up until the trial”, but had now “lost his livelihood” due to his conviction.

She said that if Mohammadi were jailed, he would lose his home and it would be “extremely difficult for him thereafter to get any work at all”.

Judge Deborah Sherwin said Mohammadi had taken advantage of the fact that he was alone with the woman. The assault was aggravated by the fact that the “traumatised” victim was “afraid it might go further”.

Ms Sherwin said she suspected that Mohammadi thought the victim was asleep when he moved the towel and sexually assaulted her.

“(The victim) said she was very frightened and upset by what happened,” added Ms Sherwin.

One-year sentence

She noted character references that attested to Mohammadi being “well-regarded…as a masseuse” and said it was a “one-off, isolated incident”.

She added, however, that because Mohammadi was “unable to accept what you have done”, he “presented a risk to the public”.

“And so, looking at the seriousness of the offence (and) the effect that it had upon (the victim), I’m of the view that the only appropriate punishment can be achieved by immediate custody,” said the judge.

Mohammadi was given a one-year jail sentence but was told he would only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.

He was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for the next 10 years and was made subject to a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order which prohibits him taking up employment that involves direct contact with female members of the public without the prior approval of police and his offender-management unit, and without any prospective employer having prior knowledge of his criminal conviction.