Massage therapist waiting for sentencing hearing

By Delon Shurtz on March 27, 2021.

A former massage therapist who was found guilty last November of sexually assaulting a female client more than two years ago, is still waiting to to learn his fate.
A sentencing hearing for Cyprian Mudenge was set to run Friday in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench, but it didn’t proceed after defence requested an adjournment. The matter returns to court May 10, when a new sentencing hearing is expected to be scheduled.
Following Mudenge’s trial last October, Madam Justice Johnna Kubik found him guilty Nov. 23 of one count of sexual assault, and said the massage therapist’s testimony at trial was not believable, while the victim’s evidence was.
During his trial, Mudenge, 55, claimed he never touched the woman inappropriately during a massage Nov. 28, 2018.
The 36-year-old woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified, however, that Mudenge got too close to her breasts and inappropriately touched other parts of her body during the massage. She said she felt violated, but admitted she allowed Mudenge to continue the massage in case she was mistaken or the inappropriate contact was accidental.
“I was in shock and I was too scared to say anything,” the woman told court.
She finally ended the massage after Mudenge fully exposed her left buttock and touched her vagina beneath her underwear, she testified.
Mudenge said the woman gave him permission to move her underwear so he could massage her glutes and give her a “skin-on-skin” massage to better reach the piriformis muscle located deep in the buttocks. He said her body, except where he was specifically massaging, was always covered by a sheet, and he never massaged beneath her underwear or touched her inappropriately.
Following the judge’s finding of guilt, the matter was adjourned for two days, when Lethbridge lawyer Greg White requested a pre-sentence report for his client. A pre-sentence report typically presents the judge and lawyers with an offender’s personal information, history and circumstances to help determine a fit sentence.Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter

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