An acupuncturist couple has been jailed after ‘brainwashing’ a younger patient into having sex with them.

The Queensland couple, Arthur Cunningham, 69, and his wife Sheena Cunningham, 55, tricked the victim, in her 20s, into believing sex with them was the only way to heal her.   

A Brisbane jury found the couple guilty of 10 charges, including multiple counts of rape and sexual assault.  

The court heard, at the couple’s sentencing on Friday, how the victim told police she had been ‘made to believe, in a slow and calculated way, that this was the only way she would ever be healthy’.

Judge Suzanne Sheridan told the Brisbane District Court the victim had sought treatment from the couple, who ran an acupuncture business at their Thornlands home.

Over a period of months, the couple ‘brainwashed’ and ‘tricked’ the victim into thinking she would receive ‘good hormones’ if she engaged in various sexual acts with them. 

The court heard the victim felt she had been ‘violated in every way’.

‘Your offending involved a gross breach of trust, worsened by your repeated abuse,’ Judge Sheridan said.

‘The complainant refers to living with having had sex with two people she never wanted to have sex with.’

The victim said it was the most painful despair, grief and nausea throughout her body.

In a chilling exchange, Mr and Mrs Cunningham were seen smiling at one another as they sat next to each other in the dock during proceedings. 

Mr Cunningham first qualified as a Chinese Medicine Practitioner in 1981 in New Zealand.

He moved to Australia later that year where he established his martial arts school, Wu-Chi School of Arts, on the Gold Coast.  

The couple met when Mr Cunningham was 31 and Mrs Cunningham was 16, in 1987, and lived in New Zealand before moving to Australia in 2010. 

The pair were both registered Chinese Medicine Practitioners in Australia.  

The court heard the couple had not been practising acupuncture since being charged. 

The couple were each found guilty of six counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault. 

Mr Cunningham was also found guilty of an additional count each of sexual assault and rape and was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment.

His wife was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Defence barrister Charlotte Smith said her client, Mr Cunningham, would likely be deported to New Zealand, and his wife would not be permitted to visit him during her parole.