Annie Varghese, 51, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday for the second day of her judge-alone trial.
She earlier pleaded not guilty to two charges of indecent assault relating to two women who received full-body massages from her.
In December, the court heard from the two complainants, who both alleged Varghese had touched their breasts and buttocks’ during the treatment, leaving them shaken and uncomfortable.
Yesterday, the defendant explained she previously worked in accounting so had limited experience and no relevant qualifications when she got the job at the Massage Centre in the Meridian Mall, which has since closed down.
She said when she lived in India, her mother was partially paralysed and a physiotherapist instructed her on how to massage her mother to help her heal.
This included massaging around the breast area, she said.
The six months she spent helping her mother in 2006 was the only massage experience she had, and she explained this to the woman who interviewed her at Massage Centre, Varghese said.
The interviewer asked the defendant to massage her, before offering her the casual role.
In her formal police interview, Varghese insisted she always asked for a client’s consent before massaging around their breasts, to which both complainants consented.
She was very conscious about where she was touching and would not touch the breast tissue because "I don’t like to touch other people’s breasts", she said.
If they were uncomfortable, they should have told her and she would have stopped, she said.
"I’m asking these two ladies to please forgive me if they got any communication problem," Varghese told the officer in her police interview.
"If they’re uncomfortable they can say at the particular time, or they can catch my hand.
"Whole body means I have to do whole body," she told the officer.
She told the court her English was not very good, but she had memorised the words "Do you want me to do here?" and would gesture circular motions with her fingers.
Her clients often became regulars and left good reviews, she said.
One complainant said she was not covered with a towel during the treatment, but Varghese vehemently denied that was the case.
"Towels is must — towels is always there," she said.
She initially accepted she touched the women’s buttocks area, as was typical for a full-body massage, but later said she only touched parts of the thigh not covered by underwear.
She might have moved one complainant’s underwear a little to access the thigh area, she said.
One complainant earlier told the court the incident was so upsetting she began to cry on the massage table.
Varghese said the woman was not crying, but had a cold and was constantly sniffing so she provided her with tissues.
The defendant saw the woman in the mall bathroom after the massage and she was not crying then either, she said.
At times during her police interview, Varghese was visibly upset.
"I never do any wrong to anyone. If I hurt them through any of my activity, please forgive me now — that’s all I can ask," she said.
Varghese will continue giving evidence when the trial resumes in March.
felicity.dear@odt.co.nz . Court reporter
