A Sydney chiropractor who was jailed for sexually assaulting a patient has lost a desperate bid to be released from prison, with his text messages to his victim playing a key role in the state’s highest court.
Riaz Behi was jailed for nine years after being found guilty of 13 sexual offences against a Japanese national who was a patient at his clinic in central Sydney.
Behi will remain in prison after the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected his appeal in a unanimous decision on Friday.
The offences were committed against the victim, who cannot be identified, in 17 appointments over a three-month period from late January to April 2019.
A jury found him guilty of eight counts of non-consensual sexual contact and five counts of non-consensual sexual intercourse.
The woman, a Japanese national who spoke little English, sought treatment from Behi at The Back Guys clinic on York Street for lower back and groin pain.
The court heard she used Google Translate to communicate with Behi during the sessions.
During her first session, she was asked to strip and wrote on notes: “I didn’t know what to do, as it is in Australia,” the court was told.
Riaz Behi was jailed for nine years after being found guilty of 13 sexual offences against a Japanese national who was a patient at his clinic in central Sydney.
During the third date in January 2019, she reported that Behi touched her near the anus.
In her court testimony, through a translator, she said that during a later session, he ordered her to completely remove her underwear.
While her back was turned, he touched her groin and genital area, leaving her “humiliated”, the court was told.
During another session, she told the court that he massaged her clitoris and stuck a finger in her anus.
She said she told him ‘stop’ and ‘no,’ and that when he asked her if she wanted him to stop, she said ‘yes, yes, yes.’
The woman said she was shocked by his actions and added that he had come on the recommendation of a friend who trusted him at the time.
During his testimony, Behi denied that there had been any non-consensual sexual contact.
“I think you are very attractive. I have no intention of getting anything from you or taking anything away from you. I apologize if I made you feel uncomfortable,” he told her in a message.
Prosecutors argued he took advantage of a “vulnerable” woman who initially thought his crime was a mistake or that this was just the way things were done in Australia.
Behi appealed his conviction, arguing in part that the jury’s verdict was not supported by the evidence.
Prosecutors argued that Behi (left) took advantage of a “vulnerable” woman, who initially thought his crime was a mistake or that this was just the way things were done in Australia.
Judge Julie Ward, one of three judges overseeing Behi’s appeal, said: “I am left with no reasonable doubt as to the applicant’s guilt on the charges of which he was convicted.”
The court was told the woman sent him a text message saying: “You touched my crotch in February.”
In another text message he asked her why she was touching his vagina.
Judge Ward wrote: ‘(Behi) asked if they could talk about it in person.
‘Stopping here, this suggests that something of a sexual nature occurred on February 14, 2019.’
The three-judge panel comprising Justices Ward, Stephen Campbell and Richard Button unanimously dismissed his appeal on Friday.
“I find that (Behi’s) text messages provide significant support for the Crown’s proposition that the disputed occasions of sexual contact did indeed occur,” Judge Button said.
Behi was sentenced to nine years in prison, with a minimum sentence of five years and six months.
His first possible conditional release will be in September 2027.