Chiropractor sex offender texts to victim revealed

A Sydney chiropractor who was jailed for sexually assaulting a client has lost his attempt to be freed from jail on appeal, with his texts to his victim playing a key role.

Warning: Graphic content.

A Sydney chiropractor who was jailed for sexually assaulting a female patient has lost a desperate attempt to be freed from prison, with his texts to his victim playing a key role in the state’s highest court.

Riaz Behi was jailed for nine years after he was found guilty of 13 sexual offences against a Japanese national who was a patient at his Sydney CBD clinic.

Behi will remain in jail after the Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday dismissed his appeal in a unanimous decision.

The offences were committed against the victim, who cannot be identified, over 17 appointments over a three-months period from late January until April 2019.

A jury convicted him of eight counts of sexually touching without consent and five counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

The woman, a Japanese citizen who spoke little English, sought treatment from Behi at The Back Guys clinic in York Street for lower back and groin pain.

Riaz Behi was jailed for sexually assaulting a patient. Picture: NewsWire/Joel Carrett

The court heard she used Google Translate to communicate with Behi during the sessions.

During her first session, she was asked to undress and wrote in notes: “I didn’t know what to do as it is in Australia”, the court was told.

During the third appointment in January 2019, she reported that Behi touched close to her anus.

In her evidence to the court, via a translator, she said that during a subsequent session, he instructed her to remove her underwear completely.

When she was on her back, he touched her groin and genital area, leaving her “humiliated”, the court was told.

During another session, she told the court he massaged her clitoris and put his finger in her anus.

She said that she told him “stop” and “no”, and that when he asked her whether she wanted him to stop, she said “yes, yes, yes”.

The woman said she was shocked by his actions, that he had come recommended by a friend and trusted him at the time.

During his evidence, Behi denied any non-consensual sexual contact taking place.

“I think you’re very attractive. I don’t intend to get something from you or take something from you. I apologise if I made you feel uncomfortable,” he said in a message to her.

The Crown prosecution argued that he took advantage of a “vulnerable” woman, who at first thought his offending was a mistake or that it was how things were done in Australia.

Behi appealed against his conviction, arguing, in part, that the jury’s verdict was not supported by the evidence.

Riaz Behi (left) will remain behind bars. Picture: NewsWire/Dylan Coker.

Justice Julie Ward, one of three judges to oversee Behi’s appeal said: “I am not left with a reasonable doubt as to the applicant’s guilt on the charges of which he was convicted.”

The court was told that the woman texted him saying “You touched my touched my crotch in February.”

In a further text message she asked him why he touched her vagina.

Justice Ward wrote: “(Behi) asked if they could talk about it in person.

“Pausing here, this suggests that something of a sexual nature did occur on 14 February 2019.”

The three-judge panel of Justices Ward, Stephen Campbell and Richard Button on Friday unanimously dismissed his appeal.

“I consider that the text messages of (Behi) provide significant support for the Crown proposition that the disputed occasions of sexual contact had indeed occurred,” Justice Button said.

Behi was sentenced to nine years in jail, with a minimum term of five years and six months.

His earliest possible release on parole will be in September 2027.