A traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctor has been arrested for sexually abusing a young girl last week while she was undergoing treatment at his clinic, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chao Teng Hin announced during a special press conference yesterday.
According to Chao, the TCM doctor, while giving the girl a back massage, suddenly removed her shorts and underwear and pressed his hands on her buttocks, after which he pulled her legs apart and looked at her private parts, and applied aphrodisiac massage oil to her waist.
The police confirmed that he did not have sexual intercourse with her, Chao said.
Chao identified the suspect as a 44-year-old local man surnamed Ieong, who has been practising as a TCM doctor in Macau for over 17 years. He has been operating his clinic, located in Patane district, for seven years.
Accompanied by her father, the girl went to the PJ headquarters on Thursday last week to report the case to the police.
Chao did not identify the victim’s exact age. Ieong has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation, facing a “child sexual abuse” charge.
Article 166 of the Penal Code – child sexual abuse – covers any kinds of sexual activity involving minors under the age of 14. The article states that a person who engages in sexual activity with a minor aged below 14 – such as touching the minor’s genitals – faces a prison term of between one and eight years.
However, the offender faces a prison term of between 3 and 10 years if they engage in sexual intercourse, anal sex or oral sex with the minor, or if they insert an object, or any particular part of their body, into the minor’s vagina or anus.
According to Chao, the girl, accompanied by her family members and friends, sought treatment for hand tremors at Ieong’s clinic on March 31 and April 3. During these two sessions of treatment, Ieong carried out the treatment normally, which included applying pressure to the respective areas on her body affected by her condition, and giving her massages, Chao said.
On Tuesday last week, Chao said, the victim went to Ieong’s clinic alone for follow-up diagnosis and treatment. After the victim underwent a diagnosis process, Ieong told the victim to change into loose-fitting clothes provided by the clinic for a massage, and to lie face down on a massage table.
According to Chao, Ieong straddled the victim’s legs to massage her back, but he suddenly pulled her shorts and underwear down to her thighs, and pressed both sides of her buttocks with his hands before pulling her legs apart to look at her private parts. He then applied massage oil to her waist, which caused her to feel hot throughout her entire body.
Chao said that after returning home from the clinic, the girl told her family about what the doctor had done to her. Eventually, her father took her to the PJ headquarters on Thursday last week to report the case, i.e., two days after the incident.
After investigating the case, Chao said, PJ officers searched Ieong’s clinic on Monday and arrested him where they seized a quantity of massage oil used as an aphrodisiac. After assessing the findings of their investigation, Chao said, the police decided to transfer Ieong to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation where he faces a child sexual abuse charge.
At the time of yesterday’s press conference, the police were still investigating whether there were any other victims sexually abused by Ieong, according to Chao.
The sexual abuse case announced yesterday follows a PJ report late last month involving a local psychotherapist. The male doctor is accused of molesting a patient in 2021 and four intern psychotherapists in 2025. All five female victims came forward to the police only last month, and did so separately.
According to a PJ press conference on March 27, the victim in the 2021 incident initially refrained from reporting the assault for fear of retaliation, as the therapist had access to her personal information. Similarly, the four interns targeted in 2025 did not report the abuse at the time, fearing that doing so would result in unsatisfactory internship evaluations.
Police find Ieong cheats govt of health e-vouchers with 2 other doctors
Meanwhile, Chao also announced during yesterday’s press conference that the police meanwhile discovered that Ieong, in collusion with another TCM doctor and a Western medicine doctor, has defrauded the government out of health e-vouchers amounting to 860,000 patacas.
According to Chao, the other TCM doctor is a 37-year-old local man surnamed Fong, while the Western medicine doctor is a 31-year-old local woman surnamed Lam.
According to Chao, Ieong was previously involved in a health e-voucher fraud case in July 2021. Following legal proceedings, he was sentenced by the court in June last year to a two-year suspended prison term. While Ieong has not been officially disqualified as a TCM doctor, he has been disqualified by the government from joining its medical subsidy programme, Chao said.
In August last year, Chao said, Ieong registered Fong and Lam as health professionals working for his clinic. The three reached an agreement according to which when patients sought treatment from Ieong and wished to use their healthcare e-vouchers, Fong and Lam – even if not present – allowed Ieong to use their accounts to process the transactions.
According to Chao, the police’s investigation showed that Ieong kept 80 percent of the ill-gotten money from each fraudulent transaction, while the other two split the remaining 20 percent.
After arresting Ieong on Monday for his sexual abuse case, the police arrested the other two at the clinic in the early hours of yesterday for the health e-voucher case.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded child sexual abuse suspect outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Tony Wong
Evidence seized from the suspect’s clinic is displayed at the pressroom of the PJ headquarters yesterday. – Photo: PJ
