A B.C. College of Massage Therapists disciplinary panel has dismissed a woman's complaint of sexual misconduct against a Prince George massage therapist.
The woman, whose name was redacted in a decision posted on the College's website, alleged in Trevor Scott masturbated himself during a 50-minute therapy session.
Scott has denied the allegations and instead claimed he was massaging the client with one hand because his other hand was shielding his face from the woman's body odour.
In the 48-page ruling, a three-member panel said it was "left with a situation where it is uncertain what happened in the treatment room on October 3, 2014."
As such, it was unable to determine on a balance of probabilities what actually occurred during the session and so found counsel for the College, who pursued the action on behalf of the complainant, has not met the burden of proof.
The panel did say it had reservations about Scott's version of the event given that many witnesses testified the woman had no odour but "that alone is not sufficient to prove the College's case."
The complainant testified she did not actually see Scott performing the act, and while the panel said a patient has no obligation "to watch the assault take place in order to preserve 'the best evidence,'" it had concerns about the reliability of some of her testimony.
"While the Panel accepts that non-visual evidence can be adduced in sexual misconduct cases, the masturbation in this case was not actually perceived by the Complainant using any of her senses.
"Rather, she inferred the Registrant masturbated based upon the fact that his breathing sounded normal, there was the sound of a zipper twice going down but never going up, and the rhythm of the Registrant's left hand touching her body which she compared to a past sexual experience for which insufficient information was adduced to make a comparison.
"Moreover, the Complainant's evidence that she felt the Registrant twice wipe his penis on her wrist is unreliable because her wrist was covered by a sheet and her sense of feeling in her wrist was impaired by numbness from a motor vehicle accident."
In April, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the College's decision to impose interim orders requiring Scott, listed as a registered massage therapist at Synergy Health and Wellness, to have a chaperone present whenever he is treating a female patient pending a final decision from the panel.
A hearing on the matter was held over five days in March, July and August. The decision was reached Oct. 31 and recently posted.
