The long and the short of it

2006-03-19 21:29

Jerusalem - An Israeli court sentenced a man to two years in prison on Sunday for operating a fake clinic that offered penis enhancements and so-called medical treatments to make people taller, both of which failed to work.

Simon Sofer told dozens of clients he was a doctor and said he could add up to 10cm to their height or 6cm to their genitals, said the Tel Aviv court.

His clinic, in operation since 1999, was not medically supervised, a government prosecutor had told the court.

Sofer has appealed against the conviction.

He pre-charged patients 5 250 and 16 000 shekels (about R7 000 and about R21 300) to increase their height with a Russian-made treatment method.

He told the court genitalia enlargements were not performed, despite advertisements that promised them.

People who sought to become taller were suspended from the air by their arms and legs, or had their bodies stretched with weights.

Others were poked with needles or given food supplements and exercises to perform at home.

"Only a lunatic could take a person who has not been checked (by a doctor) and hang him upside down," the court quoted a witness as saying at one trial session in February.

The court said Sofer had endangered the health of his clients and that none had received their "expected" result.

A judge sentenced him to two years' jail, taking into account he had no criminal record and lived with his mother, who supported him financially.

- Reuters