Massage therapist molested woman claiming to prevent cancer

A 32-year-old woman suffering from chronic back pain for over a decade had went to various tui na, or Chinese acupressure massage in Singapore and Malaysia for help. Seeing no results she was then recommended by her temple master to seek help from Willet Ong Tat Kee in 2016.

On March 19, Ong, 67, was found guilty of four counts of molesting the women in a trial by district Judge Kessler Soh.

During the trial, the woman testified that she first went to Ong’s home for the first time in July 2016 where he provided her a tube top and pair of shorts to change into and told her to remove her underwear.
Ong proceeded to massage her entire body and pulled down the tube top and touched her breasts and pressed against her pubic bone. Ong had told her that he did so to “prevent” breast and cervical cancers.

After the session, she paid him and left the premises. However, she went back for four more sessions as her back pain persisted.

During the third session, he told her “not to go to the toilet and wash up immediately” after she had sex with her husband, because it would “cause the wind to enter”. This puzzled her and she told her husband about it.

The DPPs stated in their submissions: “After the fourth treatment session, the victim felt angry with the accused, as she felt that touching her urethra had nothing to do with treating her back pain. Immediately after leaving the accused’s home, the victim called her husband and told him what had happened.” She alerted the police two days later.

Ong testified in court that he had been involved in tui na for about 40 years and developed his own “Willet zone point therapy” based on his years of “research”. A check on the online registry for TCM practitioners revealed that he is not in the list.

A fifth charge of operating a massage establishment without a valid licence is still pending and will be dealt with at a later date.

Ong is now out on bail of $10,000 and will be sentenced on April 23.

For each count of molestation, offenders can be jailed up to two years and fined or caned. Ong cannot be caned as he is over 50 years old.