Helio Taiyang Matahari, 62, extradited from Thai party island Koh Phangan over historic rape charges

A Queensland energy healer is on his way back to the Sunshine State after being discovered hiding on a tropical Thai island years after allegedly skipping out on a rape trial.

The famous outdoor Full Moon Party at the public Haad Rin Beach on the Island Koh Phangan in South Thailand. Picture: iStock

A Gold Coast energy healer was discovered hiding on a tropical island famous for its full moon parties after allegedly skipping out on a rape trial in Queensland.

Helio Taiyang Matahari – who also uses the last name Richardson – was due to face a four-day trial for rape and eleven counts of sexual assault in June 2022.

The offences allegedly occurred in 2017 and 2018.

A warrant had been issued for Matahari’s arrest in May after he’d failed to show for an earlier hearing in 2021.

The Queensland Police Service was told on September 9 that Thai authorities had discovered the fugitive on the popular party island of Koh Phangan in southeast Thailand, where he was taken into custody at a beachfront resort.

Local media reported Matahari had entered Thailand on June 16 on a tourist visa that he’d had extended until August.

He had reportedly applied for a retirement visa but the process was put on hold when local immigration authorities received an Interpol red notice about the Gold Coast man.

“The QPS is working in partnership with international and national partner agencies to extradite a man back to Queensland,” police said in a statement on Friday.

“It is alleged the 62-year-old man was facing sexual offences and failed to appear in a Brisbane court in 2021.

“On September 9, the QPS received information that the man had been detained in Thailand by local authorities where he had overstayed his visa.

“The man was deported to New South Wales on September 19 and is expected to be extradited back to Queensland in the coming days.”

Matahari, who describes himself as a kinesiologist, inventor, designer and filmmaker, delivered wellness workshops from a Gold Coast business during 2018.

He taught workshops with Dr Zung Rosia Vu Price – a Gold Coast doctor and naturopath who died in 2020 of toxicity from anaesthetic drug lignocaine.

Dr Price believed in aliens and wanted to create a spiritual retreat at her Gold Coast hinterland home, where rituals were performed with the hallucinogenic drug Ayahausca.

Matahari was named in Dr Price’s blogs and was described by her as a “highly-experienced energy healing expert” and “acclaimed neuropractic kinesiologist”.

In 2009, Matahari also invented the ePod – a vehicle which uses a combination of solar, wind and pedal-power.

Matahari faced Sydney Downing Centre Court on Friday where a magistrate granted his extradition to Queensland.

He was taken into the custody of two Queensland Police Service detectives who will bring him back to Queensland to face Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Matahari did not enter any pleas.

Originally published as Helio Taiyang Matahari, 62, extradited from Thai party island Koh Phangan over historic rape charges