A swimmer who was caught pleasuring his “chicken” at a leisure centre sauna has denied that it was a “sexual act”, and claimed he was cold and was “warming it up”, a court has heard.
Xin Zhang, 59, was spotted through the sauna’s window by a woman, who said he was “staring” at her while he had his shorts “down below his knees”. Prosecutors said the jets in the swimming pool had “aroused” him.
Staff at the Tom Husband Leisure Centre at Salford University confronted Zhang following the incident in March 2023, who banned him from the facility and alerted the police. He was later charged, and pleaded guilty to outraging public decency at a previous hearing.
In his basis of plea, he claimed he was “cold for having been swimming and put his hands into his shorts to warm his penis”. He denied engaging in any “sexual acts” or masturbation, reports Manchester Evening News.
On Monday, February 3, Zhang appeared before Bolton Magistrates’ Court for a trial of issue, to determine whether magistrates accepted his version of the incident. The bench ruled against him, stating there were “inconsistencies” in his story and that “the act was for sexual gratification”. Sentencing is expected to take place in June 2025.
The court heard he has lived in the UK for over 20 years, and held a membership for the leisure centre for more than 10, visiting five to six times a week. On the day of the incident, he said he had swam for more than 1,000 metres over the course of almost an hour, before entering the sauna.
Prosecutor Emilee Creasey said he was then seen “with his shorts down rubbing his behind on the bench and touching himself in the sauna whilst staring at (a woman) through the glass window of the sauna”.
Giving evidence at the hearing, the woman said: “He stood up. He was looking at me. He pulled his pants down just below the knee. He grabbed his penis and I could see his hands they were going up and down. I thought ‘oh my god.'”
Zhang apparently continued for “three to four minutes” before a staff member confronted him. The woman said she was “100 per cent sure” his action was sexual. She added: “I don’t know if it was towards me, I don’t know if it was or it wasn’t. “I don’t understand what else you would be doing like that? If he could offer me an explanation, one that makes sense”
When asked about his claim of being cold, she responded, “He was in a sauna. It was a hundred degrees,” before explaining how she felt “angry and vulnerable”.
The staff member who discovered him said he did not see the act itself, but that the woman, who appeared “flustered” and “pale in the face” told him: “I think he’s having a ****.” He said: “I went through the glass door and I said ‘what are you doing?'”
He claimed to have seen Zhang with one hand covering his privates and holding the other up, claiming the situation wasn’t how it looked. He added: “It was a shock to be honest, to see someone doing that in the sauna, having their shorts down.”
According to the staff member, Zhang had been spotted at the leisure centre doing some “weird stuff” prior to this incident, including “pulling his shorts down” near air vents in the pool, but management “didn’t have enough evidence” to take him aside and ask him about it.
He said: “It’s not the right place to have your hands on your private parts. It is a public area, kids swim there, it’s not appropriate to do so.”
The court heard from a manager who spoke to Zhang regarding the incident. He reportedly said, “my chicken” and gestured with his hands, which he took to mean that he was “adjusting himself”.
Explaining to police, Zhang said: “Chicken is what I call my genitals”. In his interview, he told officers: “I was adjusting the inner layer of my shorts, because of my eczema I have them loose.”
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In his basis of plea, he claimed he was “warming” his genitals as he was cold. He “denied he was masturbating but conceded it may have looked like that for anyone watching”. In his own evidence, he claimed he was lying in the sauna as he felt “cold, tired and hungry”. Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, he blamed other customers for the sauna’s temperature.
He said: “I sat there for about seven or eight minutes and I still felt cold. I realised my waistband had been tied too tight and I loosened my waistband.”
After reportedly fearing that “there might be some kind of illness causing a problem”, he claimed he was “trying to warm it up” before he heard a knock at the window. He added: “I tried to explain to the person it’s not what they saw. I also said ‘no’.”
Samuel Hinds, defending, said: “Mr Zhang has accepted his behaviour on that day to be unacceptable but strongly denies sexual undertones. He states he was warming his genitals up. He accepts whilst not the place to do so, there was nothing more to his actions.”
However, Chair of the bench Rachel Mesrie, said: “All four prosecution witnesses provided consistent, corroborating evidence. Mr Zhang’s evidence was not consistent. He has provided three different accounts of his actions providing inconsistencies. We find the act was for sexual gratification”
The court ordered a pre-sentence report ahead of Zhang’s sentencing on June 24. The maximum sentence for the offence is six months in prison with Ms Mersie adding: “All options are on the table.”
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