A HERBAL medicine practitioner groped a shocked female patient and asked if he could kiss her as he carried out an acupuncture treatment at a clinic.

Hong Wei Dong, 51, touched the victim’s chest and performed a sex act as she lay on a bed in a darkened room at the health shop in Swindon town centre.

Dong, who works at Herbal Shop in Fleet Street, also made other sexual remarks to the woman, who had paid £100 to receive four treatments for stress.

During her second visit in January the pastor’s son left her in the dark after administering the therapy, before returning to remove the needles and massage her from the head down.

He then groped the woman in the chest area and asked: “Can I kiss you?”

She noticed he had taken one hand off her body and was shaking with his belt loosened around his trousers. The woman told Dong to leave and left the shop in a hurry after pulling her clothes on.

Dong, who lives at the shop with his wife and daughter, was found guilty of sexual assault after a trial at Swindon Magistrates’ Court yesterday and faces being deported to China.

His victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, fought back tears as she told the hearing: “It’s been awful. On that day I felt violated.

“I had gone to see this person, supposed to be a herbalist or therapist, and had put my trust in him to relieve some stress and tension. I wanted to have an overall 100 per cent well-being.

“I didn’t go there to be man-handled and treated in a way I knew was wrong.”

Prosecutor James Bromige told the court the complainant was asked to strip down to her underwear. She then lay down covering herself with a towel and was left alone without the lights out.

Mr Bromige said that Dong returned 20 minutes later, “grabbed” the woman inappropriately and asked “can I kiss you?” along with a number of other sexual comments that made her feel uneasy.

Dong, who pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing, denied the charges when interviewed by police and claimed the Chinese word for ‘kidney’ is the same as ‘kiss’ in English.

But he changed his defence in court, saying he was impotent and could have not kissed the woman because he had a problem with his mouth which has led to the loss of his teeth.

Mr Bromige produced statements from alternative medicine experts Ming Chen and Kush Kumar who testified Dong’s actions were not part of any recognised treatment.

Dong broke down as he told the court he came from a religious Chinese family and had never had a problem in many years of treating male and female patients.

Dong, of previous good character, was remanded in custody before sentencing later this month. Magistrates’ chairman Richard Mattick said the victim had reported the crime promptly and, in contrast to her abuser, “had been consistent in her evidence throughout”. He told her: “You have done a considerable service to the community in coming forward.”