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John Ackerman, 56, denied the allegations and said he only massaged clients where they consented.
Publication date:
September 28, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minutes read A file photo of the sign outside the provincial courthouse on Elgin Street in Ottawa. Photo by Jean Levac / Postmedia News
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John Ackerman, a former Ottawa massage therapist who took the stand in self-defense, has been acquitted in four sexual assault cases involving clients who came to him for pain relief.
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Ackerman, 56, denied the allegations, said he only massaged clients where they consented, and after his accounts were proven in court, his defense lawyer Natasha Calvinho won four acquittals.
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Content of the article
In a decision released Monday, Ontario Superior Court Justice Pierre Roger noted that while the Crown established the absence of any deliberate collusion, the four women, who are not known to each other, read information about the defendant who might have “colored her interpretation of what happened or reinforced a perception of the incident about which she had doubts.”
The four women came forward separately to report allegations dating from 2015 to 2018, after reading an Ottawa police press release and the allegations on the massage therapists’ college website registered
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A woman complained to the university after reading about the allegations against Ackerman on the regulatory council’s website. She later reported her allegations to Ottawa police.
In the cross-examination led by Calvinho, the complainant accepted that “the police communicated to her the idea that she had been the victim of a sexual assault”.
The judge found that the four complainants testified fairly, but because the events in question took place years ago, they “couldn’t always remember accurately”.
Some of the complainants’ testimony was inconsistent and therefore the judge had legally founded problems with the reliability of their evidence, and enough to allow a reasonable doubt.
The women reported feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable during the massages, and all said he touched them inappropriately.
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But when the accounts were dissected by Calvinho in cross-examination, inconsistencies were revealed.
For example, in examination-in-chief, a complainant testified that she was “a bit shocked” when Ackerman massaged her “all over the rear.” She told the court she was uncomfortable and anxious.
But under questioning from Calvinho, the woman testified that Ackerman asked her if she wanted her “buttocks” massaged, and she said she remembered saying yes. He told the court the massage therapist eased the tension. She also said, again under cross-examination, that she was “very comfortable with him massaging my glutes” (large muscle in the buttocks).
In another case, the judge noted that while the complainant appeared to be a credible witness, the reliability of her evidence may have been affected by an Ottawa police press release she read in 2019 .That prompted her to call the police about Ackerman.
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“It also could have been affected by the (allegations) on the (regulatory college’s) website … Any of those could have changed (the complainant’s) perception of whether Ackerman touched the side of her breast “, the judge ruled.
The judge expressed concern that a woman’s perception and recollection of what happened may have been influenced by the police press release announcing that Ackerman had been charged with sexual assault.
“His testimony about when he felt the massage was inappropriate was not entirely convincing given what he said at the preliminary inquiry and in his police statement about when he felt the massage was inappropriate or ‘somewhat inappropriate”.
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In the end, the judge found reasonable doubt in all four counts of sexual assault and acquitted Ackerman.
Reached Tuesday, Ackerman declined to comment in detail, saying it was too soon and he was just “enjoying the moment” of being dismissed in court.
His defense attorney said Ackerman was relieved to have dismissed the “terrible allegations against him.”
Calvinho said his client has always maintained his innocence and “now that has been proven.”
“Although he has sadly lost his career due to these allegations, by being declared innocent, he no longer has the cloud of suspicion hanging over him. He is happy to get his life back,” Calvinho said.
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