Advisory: This story has details about alleged sexual assaults.
A spa worker facing 10 counts of sexual assault stemming from his work at a Victoria massage studio pulled a client’s underwear down and brushed her hand against his penis, the woman testified Friday in B.C. Supreme Court.
The woman testified on the second day of a trial for Ajesh Jacob, 38, who faces 10 counts of sexual assault involving 10 different women at a massage and reflexology studio on Fort Street over a nearly two-year period until March 17, 2021.
The court has heard the degree of sexual touching reported by the women varies, with some alleging he touched their breasts and their genital areas and some saying he inserted his fingers in their vaginas.
The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, said she went to the Fort Street studio, Big Feet, on March 17, 2021, for a body and foot massage, because she had had a stressful week and she wanted a massage to relax.
During the treatment, the man pulled her underwear down, exposing her buttocks, she told the court. She identified the massage provider with a description that matched Jacob. Crown counsel has said the court is expected to hear from the owner of Big Feet that Jacob was the only man of south Asian descent working at the spa.
The man at the spa poked her buttocks with his fingertips and told her that her buttocks “felt real,” she testified.
“I was shocked, uncomfortable and in total disbelief,” she said.
She described rolling from her front to her back while Jacob held a sheet in way that exposed her body.
“I could see that he was looking at me and I covered my breasts with my hands,” she said.
He moved her arms and brushed her hand against his penis, she testified.
The woman said she wanted to say something in the moment but she was “petrified” and felt frozen. She told herself she would tell the receptionist, she testified. But when the treatment ended and she went into the reception area, she was too afraid to say something, because the man was right next to her.
The woman decided to report her experience after she was made aware of a social media post sharing similar stories at the same establishment and by someone with the same name. Her sister-in-law shared the post with her, saying it sounded like what had happened to her, the woman said.
“It solidified in my head that what I thought had happened really happened,” she testified.
Jacob was arrested on one count of sexual assault on May 13, 2021. Shortly after his arrest, Jacob made headlines when Victoria police said publicly there were more allegations against him and they asked anyone who believed they had been assaulted to come forward.
In October 2021, VicPD announced Jacob was facing 10 sexual assault charges.
Jacob’s defence lawyer, Jordan Watt, challenged an earlier witness on her decision to report a year and a half after she was allegedly groped during a treatment.
That woman, who testified Thursday and Friday, told the court she hadn’t told anyone about her experience until she heard about other similar incidents.
“I think I buried this in the depths of my soul,” she told the court.
“Am I correct that you essentially had no memory of this until you heard about this article?” he asked.
“As oddly as it seems, it even seems odd to me,” she responded, leading to a short pause as an interpreter struggled to translate the sentence.
The trial is being interpreted in real time into Malayalam, a language spoken in India, for Jacob.
Each witness has been instructed to speak slowly and in short segments to allow for interpretation, breaking sometimes emotional testimony into just a few words spoken at once.
The trial was adjourned until Oct. 21 and is scheduled to continue for another six weeks.
