A medicine practitioner sexually assaulted women after giving them pills during acupuncture and massage sessions.
Dehong Tan was convicted of sexual assaults on two women at Acupuncture and Herbs at 115 Deptford High Street.
The 55-year-old was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday (June 2).
Detailing one sexual assault in early 2025, prosecutor Michael Chambers said: “[The woman] was sexually assaulted in the sixth session, but there were a number of red flags in earlier sessions.”
These included an incident in which his erect penis brushed against her during a massage, and inappropriate comments he made about her breasts and groin area.
She also alleged that, during two earlier sessions, he pinched her nipples.
Mr Chambers said: “In session six she arrived late and usually the session started with a massage.
“She was given two blue pills and described feeling drowsy and sleeping. At the time she was just wearing her knickers.
“She was woken by Mr Tan’s hand on her vagina.”
The woman said: “I’ve lost so much confidence in who I am, who I’m meant to be. He has shifted my reality of the world.
“He’s taken this very carefree, empathetic, beautiful person I feel like I was... I’ve lost her.
“I can’t trust men, and that impacts me because I have so many good men around me – a good father, a good stepdad, good friends – but I can’t trust them.”
Detailing the other incident, also in early 2025, Mr Chambers said that another woman was sexually assaulted during her second session with Tan.
He gave her five brown pills at the start of the session and then during the massage he “played with” her breast and her vagina, Mr Chambers said.
The woman, who said she felt violated, told police: “At this point I got up quickly, got dressed and left the shop. I felt really uncomfortable about the whole thing, and I did not say anything.”
Christopher Harding, defending, said the lease for the premises has expired and it is unlikely he will ever be able to be granted a licence in the future.
“It appears that the prospect of him going back to any sort of medical practice as before is zero,” Mr Harding said.
He added that the impact of his conviction and sentence on his family and his ability to earn will be substantial.
Recorder Steven Kovats KC, sentencing, said: “Any doctor who abuses a female patient in this way is indeed committing a grave breach of trust.”
He sentenced Tan to four-and-a-half years in prison and made a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning him from offering or giving massage or acupuncture treatment as part of any business.
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