An unqualified Indian masseur has been jailed for at least a decade for sexually assaulting 61 female clients at a parlour in Adelaide.
Sumit Satish Rastogi, 39, pleaded guilty to 97 offences, including aggravated indecent assault and indecent filming, and was sentenced by Judge Carmen Matteo in the District Court of South Australia on Friday to 13 years and 10 months’ jail with a non-parole period of 10 years and 10 months.
Rastogi, who will likely be deported after completing his sentence, preyed on the women between October 2021 and July 22 at 4ever Massage in Glenelg, where he worked despite having no formal massage therapy qualifications.
One of his victims was pregnant, and his final victim was sexually abused five times in a single session, 7News reported.
“In one way or another, you violated 61 women who were trusting, unsuspecting and entitled to safety, respect and dignity,” Judge Matteo told Rastogi during the three-hour sentencing hearing, ABC News reported.
“You abused their trust and treated them with an utter lack of respect and dignity when you touched them sexually and or took images which intentionally captured parts of their body which was their right to keep private and unexposed.
“Your offending conduct was regular and, at times, prolific.”
The judge also noted that Rastogi’s crimes escalated and became progressively more brazen as he “developed confidence”.
“By June and July 2022, I would characterise your offending against client victims as being out of control and showing no signs of restraint until the moment you got caught,” she said.
Rastogi, a married man who came to Australia from India on a student visa in 2012, blamed his crimes on a voyeuristic disorder and marital problems, but Judge Matteo said that while she took his diagnosis into account in sentencing it did not excuse his offending.
“[Your psychiatrist] says that your voyeuristic disorder is a clinically plausible explanation for your offending behaviour but that it does not absolve you of responsibility for your conduct,” she said.
“There is no suggestion that you were unable to control your conduct or that you did not know the wrongfulness of it.”
One of Rastogi’s victims said outside court she was satisfied with the sentence, and urged women to speak up if they were sexually assaulted.
“No-one spoke out sooner, everyone knew it felt wrong and we all left just thinking that was a bit strange, but no-one actually said anything,” she said.
In victim impact statements read to the court some of the women described him as a “predator”, a “creep” and “like a wild animal about to pounce on his prey”.
Header image: Left, right, Rastogi at at earlier court appearance (7News).
The post Indian masseur jailed for sexually assaulting 61 women in Adelaide first appeared on The Noticer.
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