A MASSEUR WHO sexually assaulted a female client after he asked her if she would like a “surprise” at the end of a massage session has been jailed for two and a half years.

Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that the woman had treated herself to a massage at a “reputable” hotel in the city in July 2024 having celebrated a milestone birthday. 

Sgt Brendan McBride said that Lenon De Souza Seara, a 35-year-old man originally from Brazil, asked the woman if she would like a surprise towards the end of the massage. 

He told Judge Helen Boyle that the 40 year old woman agreed as she was under the impression that the surprise might involve additional oils.

McBride said that the woman was lying on a table with a towel wrapped around her. She had a pair of disposable underwear on and her face was covered with a small towel. 

McBride said that the woman was left completely stunned when the masseur sexually assaulted her. She jumped from the massage table in shock, and quickly left the hotel. 

De Souza Seara of Granary Court, North Ring Road in Cork, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of the woman at the hotel spa where he was employed on 4 July 2024. 

A victim impact statement was previously read in to evidence. In it the woman said that she felt violated by what had taken place in the hotel spa.

“I was flustered and vulnerable. For context I was wearing disposable underpants, had a towel over my face and my body was draped with a towel. So effectively I was otherwise completely naked. 

“When the incident occurred, I immediately sprang up and took the face towel off, basically leaving me even more exposed, shocked and repeating, “No no no”, I was naked and frazzled.”

The woman left the spa in the immediate aftermath of the incident. She reported the matter to gardaí the following day. She said that she flip flopped between speaking out about what had occurred and never mentioning it again.

“After all I was physically unharmed. To speak up catapulted me into a process I didn’t intentionally sign up for,” the victim said.

“He (the defendant) said it was a misunderstanding. Ok, so it was a misunderstanding. What does that mean to me? Is it somehow my fault? Did I not pick up on something earlier? Was he testing me all along? What was the motivation? How far was he going to go? How many times has he done this before? How did I not gauge it and stop it earlier? 

“These questions I will never really know the answer to, but they are the ones that keep looping in my head. I feel so naive and stupid. How did I not know how to speak until it was too late? How far would it have gone? I feel like I can’t trust my own observations and missed the danger signs. That makes me question myself as a person.

 “I feel bad for what he is going through and wonder how he is supporting himself after his loss of earnings – It also makes me mad that I feel responsible for that. I did nothing wrong. I was violated. I spoke up. I have to live with the unanswered questions.”

In sentencing today, Judge Boyle said that she had noted the submissions made by defence barrister Elaine Audley, BL, on behalf of her client.

Audley previously said that De Souza Seara took full responsibility for his actions, which he said had arisen due to a gross misunderstanding on his part.

Judge Boyle said that she accepted that De Souza Seara was exposed to sexualised behaviour from a young age and had suffered the trauma of having a brother murdered when he was a young child. She also noted that an apology had been made to the woman.

Judge Boyle said that the plea in the case had spared  the victim the trauma of having to give evidence whilst also saving the State the cost of a trial.

She praised the victim in the case for for her “eloquent” victim impact statement and stated that she had undoubtedly felt violated by what had occurred to her. 

She noted that the woman was kind enough to even consider the fact that the masseur had lost his job arising out of the “egregious breach of trust.”

Boyle said that the defendant was aware of the harm he had caused to the woman who who suffered a “violation of her body and privacy.”

She said that he had accepted that his conduct was not only “unethical but a criminal offence.”

She jailed De Souza Seara for three years suspending the last six months of the sentence.

The sentence was backdated to when the accused entered custody on 30 April last.