A Chinese massage therapist who avoided jail for sexually assaulting four women in the New South Wales town of Orange has been permanently banned from providing health services.
The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission found that Donghuan Cao, 71, who goes by the English name Tom, was a risk to the public and issued a permanent prohibition order preventing him from providing healthcare in either paid employment or voluntarily to any member of the public.
Cao, who barely speaks English despite living in Australia for the past 20 years, was convicted in August of four counts of “sexually touching another person without consent” and sentenced to 23 months’ imprisonment to be served as an Intensive Correction Order requiring 500 hours of community service.
According to a NSW Police Facts Sheet included in the Commission’s Statement of Decision, Cao preyed on four female customers at the Acupuncture Massage store in Orange Central Square Shopping Centre between June and September last year.
But the sentence did not include restrictions on providing massage therapy, and the Commission found the prohibition order was required to protect the public, and noted he committed the offences while his victims were partially undressed and while in a position of considerable trust.
Cao, who was a non-registered health practitioner, worked a variety of jobs in construction and restaurants before starting work as a massage therapist about five years before committing his offences.
He said in a police interview, where he needed a Chinese interpreter, that he had no formal qualifications and was trained in massage therapy by an old boss in a location he could not recall.
Cao also claimed to be affected memory loss due to a fall at a construction site, but said he did not seek medical attention afterwards.
Header image: The massage store where Cao worked (Google Maps).
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