Shadow of Doubt: Hospital staff believed in ‘possession’

The Australian’s podcast investigation has uncovered links between hospital staff who treated daughter and ‘cult leader’ Serge Benhayon | Listen to Episode 2 now |

Sisters ‘Rebecca’, ‘Sarah’ and ‘Emily’, illustrated for our investigative podcast Shadow of Doubt by Emilia Tortorella.

A young woman whose parents were jailed after she recovered memories of sadistic abuse was placed in the care of mental health workers who follow the teachings of the discredited ‘cult leader’ Serge Benhayon.

A nurse who cared for the young woman in a public psychiatric ward was a Benhayon devotee who believed that psychiatric patients could be possessed by ‘entities’ and develop multiple personalities, The Australian’s podcast Shadow of Doubt reveals this week.

A psychiatrist who worked at the hospital was also a follower of Benhayon, a former sports coach who claims to be the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci. In 2018, a NSW jury found that Benhayon leads a “socially dangerous cult”, in a defamation action he brought against one of his critics.

Multiple former staff from the hospital where the young woman experienced many of her memories of abuse have told The Australian it was a dysfunctional workplace where cutbacks had created dangerous working conditions and staff were self-medicating to deal with the stress.

Mother ‘Susan Johnson’ is in prison for crimes against her daughter, ‘Emily’.

’Emily Johnson’. Illustration by Emilia Tortorella

“It was always a toxic workplace, and I do mean that term toxic,” said one former nurse. “It was people just complaining all the time how much they hated the job.” His account was corroborated by half a dozen other ex-staff.

The young woman’s case began when she entered the mental health ward as a 17 year-old, after reporting that she had been sexually assaulted by a sports official.

She underwent treatment there for more than two years, during which she was “flooded” with graphic memories of sexual abuse by her parents back to age five.

The parents are both in prison and are pushing for a judicial review of their convictions, arguing that their daughter’s allegations were based on unreliable ‘repressed memories’.

Former hospital staff have told the podcast they had serious concerns about the management of the young woman, with one psychiatrist describing her treatment as “an abomination”.

The Australian has chosen not to identify the hospital or its staff former staff for legal reasons.

Nurses who worked there described the adolescent psychiatric ward, where the young woman was initially detained, as particularly poorly managed because nursing staff became over-involved in the patients’ emotional states.

The Australian has established that one nurse in the hospital was a dedicated advocate of Serge Benhayon’s belief that mental illness is often caused by spiritual ‘entities’ which need to be removed.

The nurse espoused the view that psychiatric patients could manifest different personalities as a result of possession by such entities.

The couple’s daughter was eventually diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder.

During her parents’ trial, her psychiatrist testified that the illness had caused her to block out the memories of abuse for years and store them in separate self-states.

One of the couple’s other daughters testified during the trial that her father had sexually assaulted her when he conducted sports massages in her teens.

The parents’ appeals have all failed, and they are seeking a judicial review of their case with the assistance of pro bono lawyers.

*The images used with this podcast investigation are for illustrative purposes only and bear no resemblance to the real people in this story, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

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