The Calgary Herald - Canada August 11, 2009
Spiritual healer jailed for abusing teen girls in Alberta
BY DARYL SLADE | CALGARY HERALD
CALGARY — A self-styled spiritual healer who befriended a mother after she came to him for cancer treatments, then sexually abused her two teenage daughters, is serving a 5 1/2-year prison sentence.
Provincial court Judge John Reilly, in his written sentencing summation released Monday, called the offender a "predator" and "an arrogant narcissist who thought that he could use his victims with impunity."
His name can't be published due to a court-ordered ban.
It's unclear whether the man used a date rape drug to seduce the older girl, then 16, during a healing session on Aug. 12, 2008.
However, the judge noted the evidence indicated that submission of the teen was obtained either by a drug in ginseng tea or by some form of mind control.
A day earlier, the younger girl, who was under 14, was sexually abused after she was invited to a therapy session.
The man told her not to tell anyone and that they were soulmates.
The man pleaded guilty to one count each of sexual interference and sexual exploitation.
The judge said he generally does not impose a greater penalty than the Crown asks, but felt three years was inadequate in this case.
"Here, the accused ingratiated himself with a vulnerable woman, a single parent and a cancer survivor," Reilly wrote.
"He gained her trust to the extent that she allowed her daughters to spend the night with him because she believed they would benefit from (the spiritual therapy) . . . he therefore violated . . . the mother's trust, and the daughters for his sexual gratification."
The mother and her daughters outlined in their victim impact statements the devastating effects of the abuse.
"My girls and I had trusted this man," wrote the mother. "He had been welcome in our home, in our lives and had become part of our family.
"This has changed our lives forever. I have had sleepless nights and migraines. I don't feel like I can trust anybody, not even my friends. I want to cry. I feel so sorry for my girls. I can't stand to see how much they have suffered."
This article was found at:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Spiritual%20healer%20jailed%20abusing%20teen%20girls%20Alberta/1882789/story.html
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