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Brixton commune leader locked up daughter and raped acolytes, jury told Brixton commune leader locked up daughter and raped acolytes, jury told
(about 2 hours later)
A communist revolutionary who led a Maoist cult in Brixton in the 1970s imprisoned his daughter, and beat and raped two female acolytes in collectives across south London without being detected over a period of three decades, a court has heard. A communist revolutionary who led a Maoist cult in Brixton in the 1970s forced his daughter to worship him “as God” while imprisoning and beating her over a 30-year period at communes across south London, a court has heard.
The alleged victims of Aravindan Balakrishnan, a communist who set up the Workers Institute of Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought, in Brixton in the 1970s, included his daughter – who was born in the commune and only escaped aged 30, the jury at Southwark crown court was told by the prosecution. Aravindan Balakrishnan, who set up the Workers Institute of Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought, is accused of falsely imprisoning his daughter for 14 years until she escaped aged 30 in 2013. He mentally and physically abused her almost from birth, claiming he was cleansing her of fascist influences, a jury at Southwark crown court heard on Thursday.
He is facing trial for false imprisonment and child cruelty against his daughter, as well as the rapes, sexual assaults and assaults of two other female commune members, none of whom can be named. Balakrishnan allegedly beat and raped two female acolytes at communes where he insisted only he, Comrade Bala, and Chairman Mao had the authority to “lead the world to revolution to establish an international dictatorship of the proletariat”.
Balakrishan, now 75, sat impassive in the dock as he heard that he faces a total of four charges of rape, six charges of indecent assault, three charges of actual bodily harm, cruelty to a person under 16, and false imprisonment. He is facing trial for false imprisonment and child cruelty against his daughter as well as rape, sexual assault and assault against two other women, who cannot be named.
He was arrested in November 2013 when his daughter finally left the commune with the help of the Freedom Charity, alongside two other longstanding commune members, Aishah Wahab and Josie Herivel. Balakrishan, 75, sat impassive in the dock as he heard he faces a total of four charges of rape, six of indecent assault, three charges of actual bodily harm, cruelty to a person under 16 and false imprisonment. He denies the charges.
After a period in which he was “a charismatic man and a vivid and energetic speaker”, drawing around 100 followers with his plan to overthrow the fascist state, as he saw Britain in the 1970s, his influence waned and the collective was reduced to him and just six women, the court heard. He was arrested in November 2013 when his daughter left the commune with the help of the Freedom Charity, alongside two other longstanding commune members, Aishah Wahab and Josie Herivel.
“Bala said that he had to control people’s minds and scrub them clean of the bourgeois culture and lifestyle,” Rosina Cottage QC, prosecuting, told the court. “By 1979, Bala was saying that the world revolution was in a dangerous stage. The house was locked all the time and those inside were unable to come and go freely. Bala said the door had to be locked to keep out the fascist agents.” Rosina Cottage QC, for the prosecution, said: “[The daughter] had no independent life. She was bullied, beaten and separated from the world. She never went to school, played with a friend, saw a doctor or a dentist. She barely left the house. She was hidden from the outside world, and it kept from her, except as a tool with which to terrify her into subjugation.”
He mounted a campaign of “debilitating mental and physical violence”, beating, raping and sexually assaulting some of the women, all the while with his wife, Chandra, living with them too. His wife and the others “had all been so dominated and brainwashed to the extent that they believed that he was all powerful and all-seeing”, the court heard. The court heard that Balakrishnan also denied he was her father, claiming instead that her father died “during the people’s war”, and said her mother, who was in fact her main carer in the collective, was also dead. This caused her to have a feeling of “being a non-person that she carried through her life until she left the collective”, Cottage said.
Cottage told the jury: “This case concerns the brutal and calculated manipulation by one man to subjugate women under his control.” From the age of four, Balakrishnan beat her “as she had to understand the limits she had been given”, the court heard. He would hit other women in the commune if they helped her, so they ignored her plight, it is alleged. Balakrishnan would also order the others to beat her if she tried to cuddle them, the jury was told.
She said Balakrishnan’s daughter was born to another collective member, Sian Davies. In 1982 when she became pregnant, Balakrishnan accused her of “allowing the bourgeoisie to attack her” and insisted the baby was “the result of electronic warfare”, the court heard. As a young child she was not allowed to play with other children and if anyone else came to the house all evidence of her would be hidden, the court heard. His ethos combined communism and belief in the supernatural and he is said to have told his daughter he had to beat her, otherwise “Jackie”, whom he said was an invisible force with magical powers and a mind control machine that monitored all their thoughts, would kill or torture her. Jackie stood for Jehovah, Allah, Christ and Krishna, and would cause earthquakes, fires and tornadoes if anyone went against Balakrishnan.
“[The daughter] had no independent life,” the prosecutor told the jury. “She was bullied, beaten and separated from the world. She never went to school, played with a friend, saw a doctor or a dentist. She barely left the house. She was hidden from the outside world, and it kept from her, except as a tool with which to terrify her into subjugation.” When she was seven, her diary recalls that she was told by Balakrishnan to “use self-criticism to struggle against one’s negativity”.
She tried to escape in 2005, eight years before she finally succeeded, and went to Streatham police station, but went back to the commune because she didn’t know what else to do, the court heard. When the massacre of pro-democracy protesters occurred in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, “he [Balakrishnan] wished it had been 3,000,000” killed, the court heard. When the commune watched the TV news, “he would curse those who paid tribute to people who had died in events such as the 7/7 disaster”, Cottage said.
The court heard that Balakrishnan’s alleged rape and sexual assault victims “were cowed into submission” and “stayed in the collective too frightened to leave and hating to stay”. Cottage said: “They were forced into sexual acts over which they had no choice and were deliberately degrading and humiliating. He seemed to exult in his power over them. The jury heard that Balakrishnan’s alleged crimes began after a period in which he was “a charismatic man and a vivid and energetic speaker”, drawing about 100 followers with his plan to overthrow the fascist state, as he saw Britain in the 1970s. But his influence waned and the collective was reduced to him and six women.
“In order to bend them to his will he used mental and physical dominance and violence, sexual degradation, and in relation to one, his daughter, he controlled every sphere of her life to the extent that she was unable either emotionally or physically to leave his influence until she was 30 years old and ill with diabetes,” she said. Cottage said: “Bala said that he had to control people’s minds and scrub them clean of the bourgeois culture and lifestyle. By 1979, Bala was saying that the world revolution was in a dangerous stage. The house was locked all the time and those inside were unable to come and go freely. Bala said the door had to be locked to keep out the fascist agents.”
His sexual advances on the alleged victims began after his wife fell ill at one point, it was alleged. He started wearing aftershave and took to rubbing his unshaven chin on the womens’ faces, kissing them and leaving a red mark. He had started “making allusions to animal sexual activity from an article in a Beijing review, bulls covering each other or something such as that,” Cottage told the court. He mounted a campaign of “debilitating mental and physical violence”, beating, raping and sexually assaulting some of the women, all the while with his wife, Chandra, living with them, the court was told. His wife and the others “had all been so dominated and brainwashed to the extent that they believed that he was all powerful and all seeing”, the jury heard.
He beat the women, told them he could kill them using a single pressure point. Such was his mind control that one alleged victim was terrified when she bought a pair of Levi’s jeans, because she was afraid the purchase meant the Americans were exerting mind control over her because she had bought a mark so identified with American imperialism, the jury heard. Cottage said Balakrishnan’s daughter was born to another collective member, Sian Davies. In 1982, when she became pregnant, Balakrishnan accused her of “allowing the bourgeoisie to attack her” and insisted the baby was “the result of electronic warfare”, the court heard. As a young child, she was not allowed to play with other children, and if anyone else came to the house, all evidence of her would be hidden, it is alleged.
“From being a collective agitating for the rights of the proletariat, the group had become the cult of Aravindan Balakrishnan, who had deliberately undermined and psychologically abused them,” Cottage alleged. She tried to escape in 2005, eight years before she successfully left, and went to Streatham police station, but returned to the commune because she did not know what else to do, the court heard.
He progressed to “full sexual degradation” with some, the court heard. He would force one alleged victim to give him oral sex and other degrading sexual acts and later raped her. He was sexually active with three women and said he was “cleansing” them. Two other women Balakrishnan is alleged to have raped, assaulted and sexually assaulted “were cowed into submission” and “stayed in the collective, too frightened to leave and hating to stay”, the jury heard. Cottage said: “They were forced into sexual acts over which they had no choice and were deliberately degrading and humiliating. He seemed to exult in his power over them.
When one victim said she wanted to leave the group during a huge row, she hit Balakrishnan. But she was then held down by four other women while he punched her with both hands saying the fascists had got inside her and he was beating it out of her, the jury was told. “In order to bend them to his will, he used mental and physical dominance and violence, sexual degradation and, in relation to one, his daughter, he controlled every sphere of her life to the extent that she was unable either emotionally or physically to leave his influence until she was 30 years old and ill with diabetes.”
His sexual advances began after his wife fell ill, it was alleged. He started wearing aftershave and took to rubbing his unshaven chin on the women’s faces, kissing them and leaving a red mark, it is claimed. He had started “making allusions to animal sexual activity from an article in a Beijing review, bulls covering each other or something such as that,” Cottage told the court.
He beat the women and told them he could kill them using a single pressure point, the court heard. Such was his mind control that one alleged victim was terrified when she bought a pair of Levi’s jeans, because she was afraid the purchase meant the Americans were exerting mind control over her, as she had bought from a brand so identified with US imperialism, the jury was told.
“From being a collective agitating for the rights of the proletariat, the group had become the cult of Aravindan Balakrishnan, who had deliberately undermined and psychologically abused them,” Cottage said.
He progressed to “full sexual degradation” with some, the court was told. Balakrishnan would force one alleged victim to give him oral sex and undergo other degrading sexual acts before he later raped her, it was alleged. He was sexually active with three women and said he was “cleansing” them.
One woman, a nurse who came from Malaysia and joined the collective around 1977, was beaten by Balakrishnan and too scared to leave, Cottage said.
“The defendant would come storming into the room and just swipe her across the face or give her a whack with no warning at all,” she told the jury.
When she tried to resist his sexual advances one day, “he punched her in the stomach with his right hand and she was pushed against the wall where she doubled over”, Cottage said. It is alleged that he forced her to give him oral sex and told her to swallow his semen and “drink the elixir of life”.
“She started to retch and nearly vomited,” Cottage said. “This was the first time of many occasions”.
When one victim said she wanted to leave the group during a row, she hit Balakrishnan. But she was then held down by four other women while he punched her with both hands, saying the fascists had got inside her and he was beating it out of her, the court heard.
The trial continues.The trial continues.