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Satanic Abuse Rumbles On?

Social workers are only human. Just remember that the big abuse cases where something has clearly gone drastically wrong are the only ones that are 'newsworthy'. For every mistake there are countless successes where a child in danger has been identified and rightly taken to safety and a successful prosecution against the abuser/s carried out. It's a shame these never make the headlines though.
 
From the front page:

Satanic sex cult 'invented'

From correspondents in Germany
January 8, 2004


GERMAN state prosecutors said today that they had dropped a probe into lurid claims of ritual killings and cannibalism by an alleged Satanic sect because they appeared to have been made up.

The claims were made by a woman who said she had been a victim for 18 years of sexual abuse by members of a Satanic and cannibalistic cult, including relatives.

She said she was repeatedly forced to undergo abortions at "procreation ceremonies", while at other rituals victims were killed, their corpses sawn up and parts of them eaten.

In a statement to police in April 2002, the then 33-year-old woman claimed the ceremonies took place in and around Trier, western Germany, and once in Belgium.

However, state prosecutor Horst Roos said investigations had found nothing to substantiate her allegations, and many of them had been proved to be untrue.

Roos said in a statement that psychiatric and medical experts who examined her found her allegations "highly unlikely to be based on actual events".

The findings tallied with police investigations which showed that not only were her claims doubtful, but many had been successfully contradicted.

In some cases, police found that the events could not have taken place, in others that her claims were so inconsistent that it was impossible to find any basis for reality.

"In sum, nothing remains of the alleged actions that were still able to be investigated," he concluded.

The development comes amid the continuing murder trial in Kassel, central Germany, of a man who has admitted killing, carving up and eating another man he had met on the internet, apparently with his victim's consent.
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http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8354758%5E13762,00.html
 
Satanic psychiatry

Bizarre Therapy Leads To .35M Malpractice Settlement
Treating Doctor Denies Allegations

POSTED: 7:24 AM CST February 12, 2004

CHICAGO -- A woman who alleged she was put under drug-induced hypnosis and then convinced she was part of a satanic cult has settled her medical malpractice lawsuit, her attorney said.


NBC5's Natalie Martinez reported Thursday that the woman using the assumed name "Elizabeth Gale" was awarded .35 million -- the largest malpractice settlement awarded to a single person.

A Cook County judge approved the settlement Tuesday in Gale's lawsuit against psychiatrist Dr. Bennett Braun, two of his colleagues and two Chicago area hospitals, said Todd Smith, Gale's attorney. The settlement brings closure to the "almost two decades of her life consumed by this extraordinarily bizarre therapy," he said.

But no amount of money will bring back nearly 12 years of Gale's life that she says were completely ruined by her psychiatrist. Over the course of those 12 years, Gale was hospitalized 18 separate times but only got worse.

"I can never get back those years," said Gale, 52.

She was admitted to Rush North Shore Medical Center (pictured) in 1986 and placed under Braun's care for a common depression.

"I tried different antidepressants; I was just getting more and more depressed," Gale said.

But rather than fixing the problem, Gale says Braun and his team made it worse. They reportedly convinced Gale during drug-induced hypnosis that she was repressing abuse from her childhood, that she had killed a young boy and that she would die if she contacted her family. Gale says Braun told her that her family was involved in a cult and that one of her personalities was participating in it.

"I was convinced I was what was called a breeder, that my job was to have babies for their use," Gale said.

Gale allegedly then was told to undergo a tubal ligation to avoid cult pregnancies, and she had the procedure performed with Braun's approval in 1991, Smith said.

"I did not want to have any more children that would be killed in the name of the cult," she said.

Howard T. Brinton, Braun's attorney, said Braun denies all wrongdoing and wanted to take the case to trial. He said the case was settled despite Braun's written objection. Brinton said Braun currently lives and practices in Montana with a restricted license, Martinez reported.

Braun's Illinois medical license was reinstated in 2001 after being suspended in 1999 when another woman made similar accusations regarding a satanic cult. Braun also denied those allegations.

Smith helped an Iowa woman and her family win .6 million in 1997. Braun convinced her that she sexually abused her two sons, ate human flesh, and had 300 personalities.

"The whole nature of therapy led to people believing these memories, when indeed they were false," Smith said.

Mary Ellen Busch, an attorney for Rush University Medical Center and Rush North Shore Medical Center, said Braun and his two colleagues treated patients at the hospitals, but were not employed by the hospitals. She said the hospitals decided to settle the lawsuit partly because they were concerned that a jury would not understand that the methods Braun and his colleagues used were widely accepted at the time.

"At the time the care was being provided, in the mid-'80s and early-'90s, Dr. Braun and his team were recognized as national experts in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple personality disorder and the recovery of repressed memories of childhood abuse," she said.

Richard H. Donohue, an attorney for psychologist Roberta Sachs, who helped treat Gale, said his client agreed to the settlement because it was "in the best interest of everyone involved."

Dr. Corydon Hammond, who Smith said was also named in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment late Wednesday night. Messages were left at both home and office listings for a Dr. Hammond in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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http://www.nbc5.com/health/2841956/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65193
 
The sad thing about this kind of story is that there probably is something in her past that's too awful for her to face (which is in essence the driving source behind dissociative disorders) but I doubt it involved Satanists, they're a handy smoke screen for not being able to address just how rotten some 'caring' family members can be.

Hypnosis as an aid to retrieving memories is a dead loss, wether you're trying to get at SRA or UFO abductions, the subconscious has no concept of critical analysis and once you've turned up information that may be true on some levels but not the literal it seems to be very difficult to get to the real issues.

I guess a pushy therapist with her own agenda wasn't helping here either.
 
Yeh, hypnosis is fascinating stuff but there's no evidence at all that it brings back real memories. In fact I think the consensus is that it tends to bring out what the hypnotist is looking for.

This sort of stuff is particularly bad, it breaks up families, damages individuals and I'd guess the stigma attached to being accused of those sorts of crimes never goes away. It's sad that people with an agenda to push don't care how much damage they do to prove their point. I guess the trouble is that they're absolutely convinced that they're right. Fanatics again :(
 
This is an odd one and contains fear of clowns too:

Ex-day care worker released in bizarre molestation case

Associated Press
Apr. 30, 2004 11:00 AM


NORFOLK, Mass. - Former day care worker Gerald Amirault was released from prison Friday, 18 years after his conviction in one of the country's most bizarre and bitterly disputed child-molestation cases.

Amirault left Bay State Correctional Center here with his wife, Patti, and attorney. Amirault did not comment but waved to reporters as they drove off.

"We're very, very happy. ... It's just a really, really awesome day," said his nephew, Bryan Spencer.

Speaking outside the prison, Spencer said his uncle had a "very emotional" reunion with his family at the prison just before his release.

Amirault, 50, planned to return home to Malden, the city just north of Boston where he and his family ran the Fells Acres day care center.

The center was the site of the child-abuse scandal that led to Amirault's 1986 conviction on charges of molesting and raping eight 3- and 4-year-old children.

His sister, Cheryl Amirault LeFave, and his late mother, Violet Amirault, were convicted in a separate trial and released in 1995.

The case came to symbolize changing attitudes toward the mass prosecution of child sex abuse cases. The Amiraults argued they were victims, railroaded by questionable testimony from child witnesses who they said were badgered by well-meaning therapists until they concocted their tales of abuse.

His accusers stand by their testimony, which included stories of Amirault dressing up as a clown and raping children with knives, and the ritualistic slayings of animals.

But police never found evidence and the interview techniques used by investigators in the case have since been discredited.

Amirault, who was a handyman, driver and caregiver at the center, maintained his innocence throughout his imprisonment, refusing to undergo counseling for sex abuse because he viewed it as an admission of guilt. The convictions have been criticized for more than decade after media reports raised questions about how the evidence was gathered.

The state Board of Pardons recommended in July 2001 that Amirault's sentence be commuted, but then-acting Gov. Jane Swift rejected the recommendation in February 2002.

He was granted parole last October and Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley announced earlier this month that there was not enough evidence to have Amirault committed indefinitely as a sexually dangerous person.

His accusers say the pain reawakened by his release has been amplified by the doubts about the case.

"I think people look at us as if he's the innocent person and we're the evildoers," said Harriet Dell'Anno, whose daughter, Jaime, testified against Amirault.

A number of mass child-abuse convictions from the 1980s have been overturned, including those involving workers at the Little Rascals day care center in Edenton, N.C. In another notorious case involving the McMartin Preschool near Los Angeles, charges were dropped by prosecutors after juries deadlocked on criminal charges.
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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0430DayCareAbuse30-ON.html

I do worry that some potential abusers might actually utilise odd things like dressing like clowns and killing animals to make the case against them weak but I suppose the police should also be trying to get physical evidence where possible.

[edit: It also raises some interesting questions about the treatment of people conviced in these case (and others) - if you are innocent and refuse the help because of that you actually get punished for it. I can see why but it must be a terrible situation to be in if you have done nothing wrong.]

Emps
 
The Amirault case was probably one of the worst miscarriages of justice going. The children talked about cellars under the school, space ships taking them off, weird animals, them going off to places that they couldn't possibly have been to get back in time. If I remember correctly, Amirault's mother died soon after her release from prison. The case broke the whole family. The examples of questioning absolutely beggar belief.
 
I can't beleve RSA is still doing the rounds. How often does it have to be disproven, how often do people need to show how invalid it is?

The continued insistance on it's existance is a form of abuse itself.
 
VQ it is firmly in the interests of certain fundamentalist groups (Judeo/Christian/Islaamist) to prove that SRA does exist. To such groups the existence of a widespread and powerful satanic "church" is justification for their beliefs.
 
intaglio said:
VQ it is firmly in the interests of certain fundamentalist groups (Judeo/Christian/Islaamist) to prove that SRA does exist. To such groups the existence of a widespread and powerful satanic "church" is justification for their beliefs.
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As I often say: I've never had any problems from Satanists but I've had a damn lot of them from fundies *grrr*
 
I wonder how it would be to be one of those children, whose imagination (and leading questions) led to the conviction and ruination of innocent people. It would f*ck them up as well i should think. No one's been done any favours by these eejits.
 
beakboo said:
I wonder how it would be to be one of those children, whose imagination (and leading questions) led to the conviction and ruination of innocent people. It would f*ck them up as well i should think. No one's been done any favours by these eejits.
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Exactly - the ultimate irony is that in the end the only abuse is actual from those implanting false memories.

So is it really FMA (Fundie Memory Abuse)?

Emps
 
False Memories aren't all satanic. The Prosecution tend to use the argument that Satanic Ritual Abuse may not exist, but the abusers use the threat of Satan to keep the victims quiet.

There are some very good books on the subject. Very disturbing.

Not that I'm sticking up for the Fundies, you understand. Book-burning gits. But SRA didn't start with them. It started with The Courage to Heal and the authors insistence that most people had been abused but repressed it. The list of 'Indicators of Abuse' is pathetic in the extreme. For example, fear of the dentist is certain proof of being forced into oral sex at a young age. :eek!!!!:

And there was me thinking it was something to do with all those sharp point instruments they have!

So SRA, and the whole False Memory stuff, can be squarely laid at the floor at those practitioners who take Freud far too seriously and think they know better than everyone else. They don't believe what their patients come up with, but that doesn't matter. The patient believes it and that's enough.

Oh, and unlicenced masage therapists who buy into the whole 'body memory' crap. Mind you, that was thought up by witch-doctor psychologists.
 
Helen said:
The list of 'Indicators of Abuse' is pathetic in the extreme. For example, fear of the dentist is certain proof of being forced into oral sex at a young age. :eek!!!!:

And there was me thinking it was something to do with all those sharp point instruments they have!
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I don't know weither to laugh or cry. Dirty minded little perverts that they are.

As Emp's said the real abusers are the people who 'recover' these memories. Hanging's too good for them...
 
Helen said:
Oh I don't know. It's a good place to start....
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as long as it's not the only punishment geting meted out to them.

(I'll bring to knife to cut them down before they die, you bring the horses...)
 
Helen said:
'S not fair! You always get the knife! :(
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I'll let you cut a few medalians of flesh from them when their still concious. Can't say fairer than that...
 
Helen said:
Oh alright then. It's a deal.

I'll get me scales....:D
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and bring a bottle of wine...

If we burn some of them we could cook some potatos on the flames. Go on: make it a day out ;)
 
Mmmmm....marshmallows :D

That certainly would be nuts roasting on a open fire, don't you think?
 
I've forgotten what we were talking about ....

oh yes.....marshmallows and a good bottle of red....

mmmmmmmmmmmm!
 
EXTRA EXTRA

PSYCHIATRIST SLAYERS CAUGHT AFTER POLICE VIEW INTERNET MESSAGE BOARD!
 
Helen said:
Yeah. She's Buffy; I'm Faith :D
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Can't I be Faith? I'll tell you want: we'll take turns (I'm sure I know someone with a blonde wig...)
 
I don't know if anyone watches "Six Feet Under" but the book accompanying the series contains extracts from "Charlotte Light & Dark" in which it becomes obvious that Brenda's psychiatric problems are the result of the behaviour of the doctors treating her. I might post a short extract if you are interested.
 
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