Sonny Hang Chin (65), who calls himself a "Chi master body technician", spent more than two weeks on trial at the Dunedin District Court, facing 13 counts of indecent assault.
Yesterday, after nearly seven hours’ deliberation, the jury returned guilty verdicts on 10 of the charges, not guilty on three.
Chin remained unmoved, briefly shaking his head once his fate was revealed.
He was declined bail and will be sentenced in June.
One of his clients who was molested during the 13-year span — the woman whose complaint sparked the police investigation — said hearing the news prompted mixed emotions.
"It came as a huge relief to think I was believed," she told the Otago Daily Times.
"But I’m angry."
The fact Chin had been remanded in custody until his sentencing date provided her with some solace.
"It’s a relief now to think he won’t do it any more to other women," she said.
Another victim said she was still recovering from the experience of a three-year wait for justice and undergoing a brutal cross-examination when she gave evidence.
"Sonny Chin had a gift to heal people and he chose to harm them," she said.
The jury heard how Chin’s offending continued even after police had warned him.
When a woman came forward in 2016, officers discovered a complaint on file from 2012.
Both said Chin had been treating them when he groped their breasts without warning.
One also described him poking her pelvic area.
"I just froze. I went dead cold, the blood just drained out of my body," the victim said.
When Detective Wayne O’Connell interviewed Chin about the two complaints, the healer denied any sexual touching but accepted his work had perhaps not been "best practice".
"I’ve got to explain more to people what I’m actually doing.
"But if I leave energy half-stuck it’s not good for them either," he said.
"I’m not there to be a sexual pervert. I’m not like that in my work. My work is strictly professional," Chin said.
But little changed. Three more women approached police after sessions with Chin in 2019.
One of them described him touching her breasts and one occasion when he put his hand inside her underwear and cupped her genitalia.
He urged the victim to tell him to stop and when she did, he said "easy, see".
After another complaint, Chin was again interviewed by police in February 2020, dominating an hour-long conversation with explanations about his qigong techniques.
He claimed he had only touched a patient’s breasts when she was becoming overwhelmed by trauma.
"She was triggered, she was sinking and I had to save her ... otherwise they stay in a semi-zombie state," Chin told police.
During the trial, the court also heard from a woman who sought treatment for back pain from the defendant in 2016.
She said Chin was working on her sternum when a bizarre sex attack took place.
"Towards the end of it, when he was doing that, he pulled my bra down and bit my nipple. I just lay there thinking ‘what the hell was that?’," she said.
Counsel Anne Stevens KC told jurors Chin accepted — aside from the bite — that he had touched his clients in sensitive areas but that it had always been in the context of treatment.
The women had consented to the physical contact, she said.
"This is not your normal therapeutic massage," reads Chin’s website.
"We are trouble-shooters for your mind, body and emotions. To bring back in harmony with the invisible Chi dish centre line that you need to develop for inner peace."
