London cult leader sexually assaulted followers, court hears

Aravindan Balakrishnan (75) is also accused of imprisoning daughter in commune

The leader of a Maoist cult sexually assaulted two of his followers and imprisoned his own daughter in the commune for 30 years, a court has heard.

Aravindan Balakrishnan (75), known as Comrade Bala, carried out a “brutal” campaign of “violence” and “sexual degradation” against the women over several decades, jurors heard.

Prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC told London’s Southwark Crown Court that Balakrishnan was a charismatic man who “brainwashed” his followers.

He kept them as psychological prisoners so they believed he was “all-powerful and all-seeing” and subjected them to serious abuse, jurors heard.

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Ms Cottage said: “This case concerns the brutal and calculated manipulation by one man to subjugate women under his control.

“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.”

The court heard that in the 1970s Balakrishnan was at the helm of a communist group known as the Workers Institute and based in Acre Lane in Brixton, south London.

Beguiled by his charisma and radical politics, a number of people became his followers and committed to his plan to “overthrow the fascist state” - as he saw Britain, jurors heard.

However, as time went by his political influence “waned” and the group dwindled until just six women were left.

They became so “dominated and brainwashed” by him they believed he was God-like and “was all-powerful and all-seeing”, jurors heard.

A “Jekyll and Hyde character”, Bala maintained iron-discipline in the collective, it is alleged.

He invented a mystical force called Jackie, which he claimed would trigger earthquakes, tornadoes or other deadly natural disasters if anyone went against him, jurors heard.

Ms Cottage said: “He said that he had magical powers and was going to overthrow all governments and become leader of the world.

“He said that he had a mind control machine that monitored their thoughts.”

It was in this all-consuming atmosphere of paranoia, fear and violence that he forced two of the women into having sex with him, it is claimed.

His daughter, who he had with one of his followers, was also kept a prisoner in her own home, jurors heard.

She was beaten, bullied, banned from going to school or playing with friends, and barely left the house, it is alleged.

Ms Cottage said: “She was hidden from the outside world, and it kept from her, except as a tool with which to terrify her into subjugation.”

Ms Cottage said that Bala imprisoned his daughter until she finally escaped with the help of a charity at the age of 30.

When his daughter was a child she became “so lonely that she started to talk to the toilets and taps”, jurors heard.

On Christmas Eve, 1996, she saw her mother Sian Davies lying in a pool of blood after plummeting from a window at their home, jurors heard.

Ms Cottage told jurors that the child had been shocked at what she saw.

She said: “Later in the evening she heard shrieking and ran outside to where the others were and saw Sian on the concrete area below the bathroom window and there was blood everywhere.

“She was saying to the defendant, ‘kill me’.”

‘Cult of Bala’

Bala preyed on young women, and his commune evolved into a “cult of Bala”, where paranoia and fear became order of the day, it is alleged.

His followers were only allowed to read left-wing texts, would spy on each other and report to Bala, who would criticise, beat and sexually abuse them, jurors heard.

He separated the women from their relatives, convincing them that they were fascist agents, the court heard.

Ms Cottage said: “Over a period of time Bala said that he had to control people’s minds and scrub them clean of the bourgeois culture and lifestyle.”

One of the women he sexually abused became so paranoid about the outside world she thought the Americans were controlling her because she wore a pair of Levi’s trousers, jurors heard.

Balakrishnan sat in the dock in a blue anorak and thick spectacles, and listened to the accusations against him through a hearing loop.

He denies seven counts of indecent assault and four counts of rape against two women during the 1970s and 1980s.

He also denies three counts of ABH, cruelty to a child under 16 and false imprisonment.

None of his alleged victims can be named for legal reasons.

The trial will continue on Friday.

PA