Massage therapist gives court harrowing account of her rape at the hands of a client
Court heard disturbing testimony from one of the alleged victims of a man accused of raping three massage parlour employees. Some readers may find certain details disturbing
A Thai massage therapist gave a court a harrowing account of her brutal sexual assault and rape at the hands of a male client, who hit her in the head and knocked her to the floor, before tying her up and raping her.
Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi heard the testimony of one of three alleged victims of Harona Conateh, who was arraigned last month.
The 32-year-old Gambian man stands charged with three counts of rape, targeting employees at three different massage parlours in Sliema and Birkirkara in June and July.
The names of the alleged victims are being withheld from publication, in line with a court order to that effect.
First to testify was a court expert who was appointed by the inquiring magistrate to download and analyse CCTV footage from several places.
CCTV footage from some cameras in the area had already been overwritten, he said, but one of the cameras from which footage was successfully extracted, clearly shows a person entering the premises at 2:30pm June 22, wearing a bright coloured hat “that was probably yellow”, bermuda jeans and striped shirt. A person with the exact same outfit is then captured on camera leaving the premises at 2:40pm.
Victim testifies
One of the man’s three alleged victims, a Thai woman, testified on Monday, telling the court that a tall, black man had gone to the massage parlour where she had been working on 3 July and rang the doorbell.
He was wearing a dark-coloured polo shirt with a print, a yellow beanie hat and bermuda shorts, she said, confirming that it had been the first time that she had seen the man.
When she answered the door, he had asked whether he could have a massage. The witness had replied that she had another client appointment at 5:00pm and which only left had a 30 minute slot for him. “He spoke English with a strong accent and was using gestures to communicate,” said the witness.
Prosecutor Angele Vella asked the witness what services she had offered the man. “Massage,” replied the woman, adding that after she had handed him a brochure listing the various types of massage on offer after telling him the price. The man had pointed to a 90-minute massage, and it had to be explained to him that this was not possible as the masseuse only had half an hour. She said she could offer a 30-minute Thai back and shoulders massage with oil. “He said Ok. 30 minutes ok,” and then handed over the amount in cash.
But things started to go south then, inside the massage room, the man had asked her to “massage his nipples”, she recalled. When she declined, he reacted violently, knocking her glasses off her head, grabbing her by the wrist and throwing her to the floor, where he then proceeded to sexually assault her with his hand, ignoring her screams, kicks and pleas for mercy.
She said that the man had then tied her hands together with a rope. Realising that the man was too strong for her to resist, she said she had attempted to buy some time by telling him that if he untied her, she would give him what he wanted.
The woman was untied and allowed to stand up for some air, before the man once again told her to touch his chest. She tried to change the subject, asking him about his family in the hope of eliciting a sympathetic response.
But the ruse didn’t work. The man suddenly pushed her face down on the ground and raped her, she said. When he was finished, he walked to the door, telling her, “next time don’t do this to me.”
The court was told that the woman had suffered bruises and injuries to her ribs. A gynaecological examination confirmed that the woman had also suffered internal vaginal injuries.
She said that she was suffering from depression as a result of the incident.
The witness described her aggressor as wearing a dark t-shirt and a yellow hat, a description that matched the CCTV expert’s observations.
The sitting was adjourned to 17 September at 2:00pm.
Prosecutors Angele Vella and Nicholas De Gaetano are representing the Office of the Attorney General in the proceedings.
Lawyer Ilona Schembri is Conateh’s defence counsel.
Police inspectors Clayton Camilleri, Brian Xuereb and Wayne Buhagiar issued the charges
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