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TCM practitioner found guilty of molesting patient, giving her lewd sexual advice
- Lim Ah Bah was convicted of molesting a woman he treated
- He was also found guilty of two charges of insulting her modesty
- He first claimed that his actions were part of legitimate TCM treatment
- He also claimed that all he did was to give her a foot massage using a lubricant
- Two expert witnesses had to testify on whether Lim’s treatment and advice for the woman were legitimate
Lim Ah Bah, who worked at Xin Hua TCM Clinic located in 100AM mall at Tanjong Pagar, was also accused of touching the woman’s private parts while she was still clothed and asking her to apply lubricant gel in the area, as well as telling her to have more sexual intercourse with her boyfriend.
He also suggested how her boyfriend could sexually stimulate her for better blood circulation.
Lim had claimed trial to two charges of molestation and two of insulting a woman’s modesty. The offences were said to have happened when the patient, then aged 39, visited the clinic on Oct 1 in 2018.
His original defence was that he was performing legitimate TCM treatment.
TCM practitioner on trial for molesting patient under guise of improving her 'qi'
As the trial went on, he accused the victim of lifting her shirt and asking that he suck her breasts. He also claimed that all he did was to give her a foot massage using a lubricant.
Lim told the court that applying gel on the private part was a “secret technique” known only to him and breast-sucking was a treatment not found in any TCM textbook.
The prosecution had called on two expert witnesses to testify on whether Lim’s treatment and advice were legitimate.
Mr Sng Kia Hock, the vice-president of the Academy of Chinese Medicine who holds a master’s in internal medicine for TCM, said that Lim’s advice was “not normal” because “qi” or the flow of energy or blood circulation was contingent on how active a person was in daily activities and a person’s temperament.
Dr Lau Kah Yong, who earned his PhD from Nanjing University of TCM, said that the ethical code and guidelines for TCM practice in Singapore recommended that a female chaperon be present when a male practitioner examines a female patient.
The guidelines also explicitly state that practitioners should use methods that were generally accepted by the TCM community in Singapore, and they are to write to the TCM Practitioners Board for approval if they are unsure on whether they could use a novel method.
Madam Wu Hua Ting, the female boss of the clinic where Lim practised, testified that she was not aware of any treatment in TCM involving the methods that Lim used on the victim.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Claire Poh said Lim’s defence that he had given the woman a foot massage was “evidently a complete afterthought”, pointing out that he had “completely failed to raise this version” up till cautioned statements were served on him in 2019.
THE ASSAULT
The victim, who cannot be named due to a court order protecting her identity, would go to the clinic for massages after paying for a tui na massage package in 2018.
On Sept 24 in 2018, a female masseuse was massaging her when she heard of her problem of a persistent cough and recommended that she see a doctor.
The woman then consulted Lim that day. During the session, Lim started asking about her personal life and whether she was married. He also commented that the massage she had done was useless as evidenced by her low blood pressure reading.
Diagnosing that there was a lot of “blockage” in her body, he massaged her upper torso using massage oil and advised her to return the following week for more treatment, telling her that there was still “a lot of blockage”.
Her cough disappeared within three days, so the victim was pleasantly surprised and returned to the clinic for a second visit on Oct 1.
This time round, Lim asked her whether she had a boyfriend and said that she should ask her boyfriend to have sex more often to cure the blockage.
Lim then suggested tui na for her after commenting that the blood pressure was very low and indicated that he needed to massage her private parts with some gel. She declined and asked to do it herself.
Thereafter, he lifted the victim’s top and massaged her with some oil while performing cupping and acupuncture on her. She was unable to move because two to three cups were placed on the top part of her chest and some needles were placed on her stomach.
All of a sudden, Lim applied deer musk powder on her chest and molested her. Feeling uncomfortable, she asked to end the treatment and left the clinic.
That night, the victim became enraged after establishing from her own research online that there is no such treatment and that a TCM practitioner in Hong Kong had been sued simply for touching a woman’s breast during treatment.
She called Lim the next morning and told him that she had not consented to what he did and in the phone call that was recorded, he replied that the application of the powder was to stimulate the meridian and that the powder was expensive but he did not charge her for it.
Shortly after, the victim called Mdm Wu, a TCM practitioner herself, to verify Lim’s account but Madam Wu remarked that Lim was crazy to have done so, leading her to become even more convinced that she had been molested.
Lim called the woman back that morning and claimed that he had performed the same treatment on another woman, adding that she was “very healthy and very happy” after that and had even recommended his services to other female patients. This phone call was also recorded midway.
The victim made a police report after collecting the recordings.
Lim will return to court on Aug 5 for mitigation and sentencing.
For each of his molestation charges, he could be jailed for up to two years or fined, or punished with both. Insulting the woman’s modesty could attract a jail term of up to another year.
