Married London masseur caught out trying to film client undressing, court hears
A married masseur placed a phone on a treatment room shelf in an attempt to film a customer getting undressed.
Tamas Dominko, 35, was caught out by the client who spotted the device as she went to get changed for the treatment and turned it to face away the other way.
After the treatment, she moved the phone again while dressing and checked the screen to see it was still recording.
Ealing Magistrates’ Court heard the woman felt "threatened" after seeing the phone at the massage parlour in Chiswick, west London.
She said in a statement she did not know how to deal with the discovery and spent the massage in fear there would be an "altercation".
Prosecutor Maya Arputham said: "The defendant was in a massage centre as a contractor. He gets clients and they come in hourly for massages.
"The complainant comes in, she has been coming for three years and he has dealt with her before.
"On that day she realised something was very wrong. She sees a phone on a shelf, she turns the phone and undresses herself. She continued with the massage.
"Afterwards she looked at the phone and it was still recording and she was shocked.
"She took the phone from the shelf and went directly to the receptionist."
In a statement, the victim said: "It made me feel quite shocked and threatened through the appointment. I didn't know how to deal with it in the massage and felt incredibly vulnerable as I was stuck in the room with Tamas almost completely naked and feared some altercation was coming.”
Tamasin Graham, defending, said the father-of-one is seeking help for his "compulsive sexual behaviour" after the incident in July last year and has ended his career as a masseur.
He now works as a kitchen porter, the court heard.
She said: "We are here for one specific incident and I have not seen any evidence to suggest police are investigating anything any further.
"This is something Mr Dominko, in his own words to me earlier, will have to live with for the rest of his life. He speaks about feeling shame and regret about what happened. He understands that it's completely unacceptable."
Chair of the bench Rupert Holderness added: "It is a serious matter - people do go to prison for this sort of thing and I think you need to be aware if you were to be convicted of anything like this again you would face a very real prospect of going to prison despite the impact it would have on your wife and daughter."
Dominko, of Teddington, south west London, admitted a single count of voyeurism and was given a 12-month community order and ordered to carry out a sex offenders programme, rehabilitation activities and 100 hours of unpaid work.
He must also pay costs, including £250 compensation to the victim, of £430.