Famous actress sexually assaulted in 'terrifying' ordeal at Soho massage parlour
The star - a famous face to millions - was groped by a masseur when she went to the Rupert Jade Thai massage parlour for a treatment in March 2023.
She was asked to strip down to just her underwear and a towel, before masseur Sundaralingam Koodalingam subjected her to a series of sexual assaults on the treatment table.
At Southwark crown court on Wednesday, Koodalingam, 36, was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of two charges of sexual assault.
The woman, whose identity is protected as a sexual offences victim, penned a powerful impact statement which was read to the court, setting out the devastating damage to her personal and professional life.
'The widespread anger this despicable human has caused is vast and so very real', she said, telling the court she has been 'fundamentally changed'.
'My job needs me to be playful, open and light', she said. 'Creativity is stifled by insecurity.
'I don't know if I will ever get back to who I was before that day. This man has taken away my trust, my innocence, and my ability to give everyone - especially a stranger who happens to be male - the benefit of the doubt.'
She told the court she suffers panic attacks and needed her father to accompany her on walks home from work in the aftermath of the attack.
'I look over my shoulder, expecting to be a victim of further abuse for speaking out against him', she said.
'A grown-ass woman in her 30s... feeling unsafe to walk home alone from work due to one pathetic man is unbelievable.'
She said she needed therapy for anger issues, and detailed an incident when she 'felt rage' at a stranger who winked and smiled at her.
'How dare you assume I wanted this attention', she said. 'No one wants this attention, you have no idea what effect you are having on someone.'
The court heard Koodalingam, who comes from the Maldives, moved to the UK in 2021 with his visa sponsored by a company based in the Cotswolds.
The attack happened on March 29, 2023, when the victim visited the massage parlour where he worked for the first time.
'She was naked but for her underwear and a towel', said Recorder Jeremy Brier, setting out how Koodalingam touched the woman intimately and groped her breasts and nipples.
'This was a frightening and terrifying ordeal', he said. 'It was a violation.'
At trial, Koodalingam claimed the actress had invented the sexual assaults, and even at sentence he continued to protest his innocence.
The victim said she is 'angry this man has taken anything from me at all, triumphant to say it is over, devastated it happen to me', and expressed satisfaction at 'taking one more disgusting predator off the street'.
'Tens if not hundreds of women are now safe', she said.
The star also detailed her struggles with how she initially responded to the attacks.
'I have struggled with knowing who I was', she said. 'I always saw myself as someone who would stand up to fight.
'I had conversations like that so many times. I was so sure I would stand up, call out bad behaviour, and get the hell out, but I didn't, and I really struggled with that.'
She said she initially joked with a friend about the incident, and now recognises her response was 'human, vulnerable, and honest' and she 'did absolutely nothing wrong that day'.
And she added her horror at one person's reaction to news of the attacks, saying to her: 'That's not too bad, at least he didn't rape you'.
'Imagine the sentence 'at least he didn't rape you' being a silver lining.'
Koodalingam, of Ruskin Avenue in Manor Park, east London, was convicted by a jury of sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault.
His barrister, Ben Hargreaves, told the judge that Koodalingam faces an 'especially hard' time in Britain's 'decrepit' prison system, as English is not his first language and he has never been behind bars before.
He has been on bail during legal proceedings, and was told he must serve two thirds of the four-year jail term.
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