Cairns masseur Clint William Curtis, 63, pleads guilty to the rape of a long-term client during a massage

A Cairns masseur and hospital wardsperson who worked for a “high profile sporting team” has pleaded guilty in Cairns District Court to raping a client in his massage studio last year.

Cairns Courthouse

A former massage therapist for a high profile Cairns sporting team has been jailed for raping a client at his home, in what a judge described as an ‘egregious’ breach of trust.

Clint William Curtis, 63, was jailed for three years this week after he pleaded guilty to one count of rape and to possessing a dangerous drug – cannabis, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Curtis ran a remedial massage business for many years from his home, Crown Prosecutor Seamus McManus said.

In facts handed up by Mr McManus, the court was told the victim was a mother in her 40s, who had attended at least 35 sessions with Curtis before the digital rape occurred on 18 October 2023.

The woman was ‘paralysed in fear’ during the digital rape, which lasted four minutes, Mr McManus said.

After raping her, the man said ‘‘this had been building up for a long time”.

“This four minutes had devastating consequences; the victim talks about a total shift as if she was now a different person,” Mr McManus said.

Defence barrister James Sheridan said Curtis was a father of two whose difficult childhood was marred by domestic violence, and he had vowed to make a better life for his sons.

He said Curtis studied naturopathy and massage in the late 1990s and built a successful career in the field.

Curtis had also worked for the past eight years at Cairns Hospital as a wardsman, a job he resigned from as a result of these charges, the court heard.

Mr Sheridan handed up two references for Curtis from female clients, and said Curtis was ‘sad, remorseful and ashamed’ everyday for what he had done.

Judge Joshua Trevino KC described the offence as “extremely serious”.

Cairns masseur and wardsperson Clint William Curtis, 63, pleaded guilty to raping a client.

“You were a masseur and you offended against one of your customers. You committed an egregious breach of the complainant’s trust. Such was her trust in you, that she had even arranged for her daughter to be massaged by you from time to time,” Judge Trevino said.

“The massage proceeded in an unremarkable way up until the point an hour into the massage when you removed the sarong from the complainant entirely,” Judge Trevino said during sentencing.

“The complainant trusted you. It seems she thought you had some legitimate purpose in doing so. You did not.”

Judge Trevino said although the woman felt disgusted by what was happening, she felt paralysed and frozen in fear during the rape.

“After the massage she was able to question you about what you had done and you said ‘this has been building up for some time’.”

Judge Trevino said the woman made a report to the police the next day.

“By that stage, she’d had some time to process the awful thing you’d done to her.”

Judge Trevino sentenced Curtis to three years imprisonment, to be suspended after 9 months for four years.

“There have been devastating effects of your offending … in her victim impact statement (the woman) says she is a shell of her former self. She lives her life in a state of hypervigilance and anxiety, which leave her exhausted,” Judge Trevino said.

“I read you her words to you: Where once I trusted, I now hate and fear. Where once I loved myself completely, I’m now a broken wreck and a sad shell of myself.”

Originally published as Cairns masseur Clint William Curtis, 63, pleads guilty to the rape of a long-term client during a massage