A Perth naturopath is behind bars after being found guilty of indecently assaulting 18 female patients including a 16-year-old girl.
A District Court jury deliberated over three days before convicting Mauricio Bascunan Cabrera of touching the women on their breasts and buttocks during consultations between 2010 and 2017.
He was also found guilty of touching one woman on her genital area.
But the jury acquitted the 41-year-old of abusing another 10 women, while it could not reach a verdict on a charge alleging that he sexually penetrated one woman without her consent.
Bascunan Cabrera had been on trial for the past six weeks, with prosecutors alleging he had brazenly offended against the women after they went to him seeking help for ailments such as a bad pain, stress, vertigo and headaches.
State prosecutor Sean Dworcan described the complainants as especially vulnerable, saying they had thought he was a health professional who could help them.
Women diagnosed by 'looking into their eyes'
The court was told on some occasions, Bascunan Cabrera asked the women if they had intimate or revealing photos of themselves on their mobile phones and in one case, found a topless photo and sent it to himself.
Bascunan Cabrera denied any wrongdoing, maintaining he treated the women in the manner he did after looking into their eyes and diagnosing what their problems were.
He testified he believed he had the consent of the women to massage them without clothing.
"I work skin on skin. Clothing can sometimes block what I feel in the fingertips," he said.
"I felt it was very necessary."
He also told the court he wanted to help the women as much as he could and believed his treatments would help them physically.
Bail request rejected by judge
Bascunan Cabrera also claimed one of the women told him at a party after her consultation that she felt amazing, and described him to her boyfriend as "the guy who fixed my chest".
After the verdicts were handed down, Bascunan Cabrera's lawyers applied for him to be released on bail pending his sentencing, but that was rejected by Judge Michael Bowden.
He said given the circumstances of the case, it was appropriate to remand Bascunan Cabrera in custody, although he told him that did not mean a final decision had been made on what sentence he would receive.
The sentencing is scheduled to take place in mid-December.
