Massage therapist charged with rape

CEBU, Philippines — A massage therapist was charged with rape for allegedly inserting his private organ into his customer's private part during a session.

The incident happened on May 30, 2017 at around 2 to 4 p.m. in one of the massage parlors in Cebu City.

The Cebu City Prosecutor's Office did not recommend bail for 18-year-old massage therapist Mark Joseph Alfar, a resident of Barangay Anapog, Pinamungajan, Cebu.

The victim, a Korean national, said that she fell asleep while Alfar was massaging her and she suddenly woke up to feeling something strange between her legs.

"His body was on top of mine. And the towel that was used to cover my body during the massage was no longer there," the victim said in her affidavit.

She also found out that her underwear was pulled down to her knees, exposing her private organ.

Alfar denied the accusations against him.

While he admitted that he was working on the day the incident happened and was requested for a massage, however, he claimed that there is no truth that he raped her, saying that the allegations were unbelievable.

"If indeed I was already touching her private body part when I (gave) her (a) massage, she would have complained already or just shout. But there was no complaint, which means that I never did anything wrong," Alfar's counter-affidavit reads.

"The truth is, I never did anything wrong at the time that I did the massage."

Despite Alfar's denials, Prosecutor Leah Cruz found probable cause against the accused.

In her resolution, Cruz found enough grounds to indict Alfar, saying the accused had sexual intercourse with the victim without the latter's consent since she was unconscious.

Alfar was charged with violation of RA 8353 otherwise known as the Anti-Rape Law of 1997. —GAN (FREEMAN)