A MASSAGE therapist who groped women while carrying out treatments on them is facing jail.
Alistair Bennie, 61, left 10 victims frozen in fear as he sexually assaulted them in their own homes and his own property.
Alistair Bennie left 10 victims frozen in fear as he sexually assaulted them[/caption]
All of the women, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, contacted Bennie through his Alpha Holistics company and arranged for treatment but he used the sessions to molest them.
Alpha Holistics offered a range of services including Swedish massage, hot stone therapy and Indian head massage.
A police probe was launched after two women complained about his conduct which led to others coming forward.
Two friends told how they had booked Indian head massages for £120 but were left shocked when he groped their breasts.
Another woman was attacked during an appointment at his home while a fourth woman was molested while her husband was in another room of her house.
Bennie, of Strathaven, Lanarkshire, denied sexually assaulting the women between September 2017 and June 2022.
He went on trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court where a jury took less than an hour to find him guilty of 10 charges.
One victim told the jury she was meant to be having a massage on her calves but Bennie touched her private parts.
She said: “His hand went up and underneath my pants and I juddered.
“He left and I told my husband ‘I think he has just touched me inappropriately’ and I told him he hadn’t touched my calves and that I felt really uncomfortable.
“I felt really, really violated.”
Another woman told how Bennie had rubbed against her body during a massage.
She added: “I didn’t say anything, I was just frozen in the moment. It was the last thing I expected to happen.”
In evidence Bennie repeatedly denied he had sexually assaulted the women.
He added: “I have made an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and from my point of view that is what I’m doing.
“I can’t understand why this has come about and I didn’t do any of these things.”
Depute fiscal Neil Thomson told jurors: “This was a course of conduct persistently pursued by Alistair Bennie against people he was meant to be giving massage therapies to.”
Sheriff Linda Nicolson deferred sentence on first offender Bennie until May for reports and continued bail.
She told him: “The charges which you have been convicted of are obviously very serious and I have to say that at this stage custody is uppermost in my mind as a disposal in this matter.”
Bennie was placed on the sex offenders’ register and banned from carrying out massage on members of the public.
