A masseur has denied 14 charges of sexual assault before a jury at Southwark Crown Court after a 17-year-old young woman and 17 other victims filed formal complaint against him.

One victim said the assault against her took place on her 17th birthday, when her mother took her to a spa as a birthday present.

The teenage girl is just one of 18 women that the masseur is accused of assaulting at a nody and skincare spa which he co-owns with his wife in St John’s Wood, North London.

She said she was not offered to wear any paper underwear which masseurs typically provide for their clients.

The girl told police: “He started massaging my feet, then calves and then my thighs… When he was on my thighs he asked if I was relaxed and then started moving a bit upwards… I was thinking, was this part of the massage? I was not sure. I told him to stop. I said, “No”, and he did stop.”

She said when the massage was over, Pytlarz asked her if it was her 18th birthday that day.

She responded by saying she had just turned 17. Then he allegedly told her: “I hope you enjoyed your massage.”

As part of her mother’s present, the girl was asked to proceed to another room for her facial, which was performed by Pytlarz’ wife.

The girl confided to a friend of the incident, saying she was scared the masseur might turn violent if she protested further. The girl’s mother learned of the incident, and she later filed a formal complaint.

Defense counsel Eleanor Laws suggested to the girl in court that the incident ‘didn’t happen at all.’ The girl answered: ‘It did.’

Three other women came forward after the 17-year-old filed the complaint, and detectives were able to contact more of Pytlarz’s clients. Fourteen more women later claimed they had been assaulted by the same masseur between March 2009 and September 2011.

The trial is ongoing.