Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Raped by "friend of the Dalai Lama"

How I was raped by the bogus guru of suburbia, by dancer
By Colin Fernandez
Michael Lyons, 51, styled himself as spiritualist Mohan Singh

Michael Lyons, 51, styled himself as spiritualist Mohan Singh

A 'spiritual guru' raped his female followers telling them it would enlighten them and 'fix their bodies inside and out', a court heard.

Michael Lyons, 51, who went under the name of Mohan Singh, masqueraded as a healer and convinced his victims he was a friend of the Dalai Lama, it was alleged.

But he was in fact a sexual predator who assaulted disciples at his suburban home, a jury was told.

Philip Katz, QC, prosecuting, said: 'We say he has been systematically raping and sexually assaulting new recruits into his group whom he found attractive.'

Lyons is accused of attacking seven young women between 1998 and 2008.

Yesterday one of them told the jury at Wood Green Crown Court, North London, that a friend introduced her to 'Mohan Singh' in January 2005.

The 23-year-old dancer from New Zealand said she had been feeling homesick and her friend said Mohan 'had healthy methods, osteopathic treatments, that will help you feel better. He's helped a lot of girls feel better by changing their energy and things like that'.

Mohan 'gave her a lot of attention' and asked her many personal questions, the court heard. She was then taken to the home of several of Mohan's female followers, which had a 'shrine' in the living room.

Mohan went round 'giving back rubs' to the women as they sat in a circle, the court heard. He then told all the girls to get up and dance to music by Michael Jackson. After an hour or two, Mohan took one of his female disciples downstairs, it was alleged.

The witness said: 'When they both came back, I remember everyone commenting on the woman, saying how much energy she gained from being downstairs and getting some sort of treatment.

'I didn't think so. I thought she looked quite flushed.'

When the witness said she wanted a shower, Mohan suggested she could do it at his house in Belsize Park, North London. She told the court that Mohan ran the shower and promised to bring her some special soap.

'He came in at one stage and turned the shower up, and it got really quite hot,' she said. 'He gave me the soap, it gave me a numbing tingling feeling.

'The next thing I can remember he jumped in the shower as well, to use the soap on me, to give me a back rub. He was touching me. At first it didn't feel sexual, he rubbed my arms, and my back, then my shoulders.

'He said there was something wrong with my kidneys, and I could fix this sort of thing with his treatment. He was turning me around at certain points. I remember thinking it was quite strange.'

The woman said she had to get out of the shower as she was tired. But as there were no couches in his house, Mohan told her she would have to lie on his bed, the court heard.

On the bed, she said: 'He was rubbing me and rubbing my breasts. He said he could make my breasts better with the right sort of treatment and massage. He said he could heal my body inside and out.'

Mohan then climbed on top of her and had sex with her, the court heard.

'He was still talking about fixing my body and enlightening me, helping me with positive energy,' she said.

'I remember him saying things like, he was enlightening me, and I'd never had an organic p***s and he was giving me his organic p***s.'

'Throughout the whole time he would get up and run around the room, saying we could have many babies together, and how he had a great organic p***s.'

The woman said she was terrified and started crying. Eventually Mohan stopped. As she left the room, some of Mohan's followers said she 'looked amazing and that I had been enlightened. I remember feeling horrible.'

The next day the witness accompanied Mohan and some of his female followers to Paris by Eurostar, leaving at 6am.

During the trip, during which they walked past some 'peep shows', Mohan told her 'they should have sex together in public and do a show'.

They returned to England and were taken to see someone described as 'a Lama' - but not the Dalai Lama - give a talk to 80 people at a hotel.She was later taken back to the house with the shrine, but made a break for freedom after receiving a text from her boyfriend telling her to escape.

The court has heard from two earlier alleged victims. An American woman said Lyons raped her in July 1998 after showing her a religious film. Another alleged rape victim wept as she told the jury how she had been attacked at Lyons's flat in June 2002 after he burned herbs under her nose.

Surrounded by female followers, he performed acupuncture on her, then raped her in his bedroom. Lyons denies five counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault.

The trial continues.

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