A well-known actress and singer described how her ‘belief and innocence had been taken away’ when she was sexually assaulted throughout a therapeutic massage.
The lady, in her 30s, was attacked by Sundaralingam Koodalingam, 36, on the Rupert Jade Thai Therapeutic massage parlour in Soho in March 2023.
She was sporting solely her underwear and a towel when he subjected her to 2 assaults whereas she lay on the remedy desk within the darkened room, Southwark Crown Court docket heard.
The lady mentioned ‘another disgusting predator has been taken off the streets’ as Koodalingam was jailed for 4 years as we speak, including: ‘Tens, if not a whole lot, of ladies at the moment are protected.’
Koodalingam had denied the allegations, accusing his sufferer of constructing them up and forcing her to relive the ordeal in entrance of a jury.
The star, who has anonymity as a sexual offences sufferer, outlined the ‘devastating’ influence the assault has had on her in a press release learn to the court docket by prosecutor Fiona Robertson.
In it, she described feeling ‘violated’ by the assault and ‘basically modified’ as an individual within the wake of it.
She has undergone common remedy periods, needed to name on her dad to stroll her to and from work, and located herself ‘flipping out’ at male strangers making undesirable advances.
‘The widespread anger that this despicable human has brought about is huge and really, very actual,’ she mentioned.
‘My job requires me to be playful, open and lightweight. Creativity is stifled by worry and insecurity.’
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She continued: ‘I don’t know that I’ll ever get again to who I used to be earlier than that day.’
The sufferer mentioned she has questioned her personal actions, asking herself why she didn’t rise up, name out the assault and get out of there.
‘I at all times noticed myself as somebody who would rise up and combat,’ she mentioned. ‘I now know that I did completely nothing unsuitable that day.’
The court docket heard she discovered it troublesome to speak in confidence to pals about what occurred to her, and he or she described her misery at one remarking: ‘Properly, no less than he didn’t rape you.’
‘Think about the sentence “no less than he didn’t rape you” being the silver lining,’ she mentioned.
‘This man has taken away my belief, my innocence, and my potential to offer strangers – particularly ones who occur to be male – the good thing about the doubt.
‘I really feel indignant that this man has taken something from me in any respect, triumphant to say it’s over, devastated it occurred to me, and peaceable that justice has been introduced.
‘This man will lastly should face the implications of his actions.’
Koodalingam, of Manor Park, east London, was discovered responsible of sexual assault and assault by penetration.
Ms Robertson informed the court docket there had been ‘a transparent abuse of belief between knowledgeable masseur and a shopper’.
The prosecutor mentioned the sufferer has wanted ‘a big quantity of remedy’ to assist her deal with the ‘ongoing influence on her private life even two and a half years on’.
Jailing Koodalingam, choose Recorder Jeremy Brier KC mentioned: ‘This was a daunting and terrifying ordeal for her.
‘She was bare, susceptible and completely trusting in your professionalism and propriety.’
The court docket heard Koodalingam is initially from the Maldives and got here to the UK on a sponsored visa in 2021.
His barrister Ben Hargreaves mentioned his time in custody within the ‘desolate and decrepit’ jail system shall be ‘particularly arduous’.
He should serve two-thirds of the sentence earlier than he shall be launched.
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