26 August,2011 11:58 AM IST | | ANI
An Indian-origin yoga teacher in Melbourne is accused of inappropriate massages on three women who sought him out for remedies for health complaints
Virendra Kumar, 64, operator of the Kevalam Yoga and Meditation Centre in Balwyn, allegedly told a woman recovering from pregnancy pains that invasive massages would improve her health and well being, a jury has heard.
Kumar is standing trial in the County Court on seven charges of rape and five of indecent assault, alleged to have taken place between August 2006 and August 2008.
He had pleaded not guilty and his defence counsel said there were no rapes or assaults because each woman consented.
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Opening the Crown case, prosecutor Andrew McKenry said each woman separately complained of health problems, which Kumar told them could be remedied through massage.
One woman testified recently that she began seeing Kumar in late 2006, believing that yoga would be an effective way to restore her body, having given birth about six months earlier.
She said she had mastitis at the time and her groin was still sore from childbirth, so accepted Kumar''s word that massage, and in particular, internal vaginal massage, would help her.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Amanda Fox, the woman - to whom all of the rape charges and two of the indecent assault charges relate - said she gave Kumar permission to digitally penetrate her and, as a result of his massage, the lumps in her breast disappeared and her vaginal pain lessened.
She said she was surprised at how intimate the massage became but "reconciled it with myself because of the gravity of the situation. I was in pain for a long time."
Fox earlier told the jury there were no rapes or indecent assaults, and the woman had consented to the internal massage.
"No matter how you view her evidence, it is not rape and it is not indecent assault. Even on her version of events, which is disputed, these crimes of rape and indecent assault have not been committed," the Age quoted Fox as saying.
The credibility, reliability and believability of all three women were in issue, she said.
