A Sydney chiropractor has been jailed for at least five years and six months for repeatedly sexually assaulting a Japanese patient who was seeking treatment for her lower back and groin pain.
Riaz Behi, 47, was convicted by a jury at his second trial on 13 charges, including aggravated sexual touching and aggravated assault against a person under his authority.
NSW District Court Judge Sarah Huggett sentenced Behi to a full nine years in prison on Monday.
During 17 appointments in early 2019, the practitioner assaulted the then 31-year-old woman in the treatment rooms of The Back Guys practice in Sydney’s CBD.
During the tourist’s first consultation, Behi pulled down the woman’s underpants, exposing her buttocks completely, she said through an interpreter.
She believed removing underwear for a massage was common practice in Australia and said it had never happened before an appointment in Japan.
He went from massaging her buttocks to brushing his hands by her genitals until the eighth appointment when she had fallen asleep and was startled awake by his finger in her, she told the court.
The woman tearfully told the court that she had made a new appointment after the attack because she thought she would be in trouble if she left without a license.
A friend had previously told her that Behi was a doctor with good reviews, and she didn’t want to be rude to him.
At another appointment, she was again asked to undress and felt Behr’s hands close to her anus and vagina when she felt pain inside and “froze,” unable to speak.
Behi asked her, “how are you feeling?” after which the woman shook her head and said, “no,”.
“At one point, he asked, ‘do you want me to stop’ and she said, ‘yes, yes, yes’.”
Behi used Google Translate to communicate with the woman who told him she wanted a regular massage and that he would never do that again.
The woman said she kept returning because the massages in other areas reduced her lower back pain.
At his first trial in March 2021, Behi gave evidence that at the woman’s 10th appointment, she laughed nervously after pointing his hand “south”.
He claimed she moved his hand up and down her genital area for about 20 or 30 seconds before opening her eyes and giggling the towel moved over her nose.
“I also laughed awkwardly… and then repeated, ‘We shouldn’t have done that,'” he told the court.
He once denied inappropriately touching the woman he believed was wearing underpants in every session, but the jury rejected his version of events.
Behi will be eligible for parole for the first time in September 2027.