Shadow of Doubt podcast

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Aug 14, 2011
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‘Complicated’ sexual assault conviction under the microscope in new podcast​

Shadow of Doubt delves into one of the country’s most shocking child abuse cases, which resulted in a record jail sentence of 48 years for the accused father.

In a five-year investigation, journalist Richard Guilliatt explores a spectacular collision of memory, therapy, trauma and conflicting ‘truths’ in this gripping new podcast.


'Friends of a young woman whose memories of sadistic abuse led to the jailing of her parents have confirmed she spoke about an earlier incident in which she recovered memories of sexual assault by a sports coach.
The couple’s daughter accused the sports coach before she made allegations against her parents, telling police he had snuck into her hotel room at night while she was competing overseas in a sporting event.

But a friend who was sharing the hotel room says the young woman acknowledged later that her memory of the alleged assault had only returned once she was back in Australia.

The Shadow of Doubt podcast, which is investigating the parents’ claims of innocence, this week reveals details of this incident, which led the young woman to seek counselling. The Australian is removing any identifying details from its reporting to protect the identity of their daughter.

The couple’s daughter was 17 when she travelled to the overseas sports event, where she shared a hotel room with two female competitors aged 17 and 15. Shortly after their arrival, both her room-mates complained that a male coach who had been performing sports massages was touching them inappropriately.'


Episode 1 - Australia’s Most Evil Dad

Shadow of Doubt

Episode 1 - Australia’s Most Evil Dad

00:00
48:49


The older of the room-mates has told the Shadow of Doubt podcast that after they all returned to Australia, the couple’s daughter called her from a psychiatric hospital and said she now remembered that the coach had sexually assaulted her.

 
Hmmm, why are they not naming the victim? The victim is either all in, or she's not. IMO, you can't meet somewhere in the middle.

I was interested in this until reading the victim's identity won't be revealed.
 
There's a whole series of posts on this case (mainly mine) in the following BF thread, that started Saturday from the following post

 

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There's a whole series of posts on this case (mainly mine) in the following BF thread, that started Saturday from the following post


Ep2 is out.

Warning:
For those who have had negative experiences with family members, loved ones, or self, in the mental health system, some of the things in this article (let alone the Ep2 podcast I have not listened to yet) might be triggering.

'Shadow of Doubt podcast: Psych unit staff’s concerns over treatment of daughter'

'UPDATED 4:22PM APRIL 7, 2023, FIRST PUBLISHED AT 3:55PM APRIL 7, 2023'
'A mental health hospital had mismanaged the treatment of a young woman whose recovered memories of sadistic abuse led to long jail terms for her parents, according to a senior psychiatrist who worked at the hospital.

The teenager received ‘abominable’ care in the mental health ward in the months before she began remembering 13 years of extreme abuse by her mother and father, the psychiatrist has told The Australian’s Shadow Of Doubt podcast.'

A former nurse at the hospital says she also became concerned after learning that the young woman was receiving treatment in a sexual assault centre that had a poor reputation among hospital staff for its counselling methods.
...
The case began when the couple’s 17 year-old daughter, a high-performance sportswoman, was admitted to a public mental health ward after she reported being sexually assaulted by a team masseur. While detained in the hospital for nearly four months, she self-harmed and tried to escape many times, eventually making extensive allegations of abuse against her parents.

A senior psychiatrist who worked at the hospital, and who cannot be named for legal reasons, has told the Shadow of Doubt podcast that her treatment records suggest the case was mismanaged. He said detaining such a highly trained sportswoman in a heavily sedated state for so long had likely heightened her distress and worsened her mental health problems.

When shown a chart of the drug doses she was administered, he said: “Look, this is just an abomination … That’s all I can say. It’s an abomination.”


The young woman’s mother, who is now serving a 16-year jail term, says her daughter was almost catatonic when she visited her in hospital, and doctors failed to offer any explanation for her escalating suicide attempts.

“I did bring up with them that I was very concerned …[that] the wiring of her brain and her whole body and the way she responded and needed to eat and needed to exercise could be adding to the depression,” the mother said. “To suddenly stop and to do what they did to her, and then fill her up with antidepressants and anti-psychotic drugs – to me, it could have only added to what was already occurring. But no one listened.”

The mother says she was also concerned that her daughter was receiving counselling from both a psychiatrist in the hospital and a social worker in a separate sexual assault centre, because the two did not appear to be communicating enough.

Mental health staff in the hospital shared those concerns at the time, The Australian has learned. A Mental health staff in the hospital shared those concerns at the time, The Australian has learned. A former senior nurse told the Shadow Of Doubt podcast that the sexual assault centre was jokingly referred to by some hospital staff as a place where “voodoo” was practised.

“A lot of our seniors were wondering what was going on, and we were told she did ‘sand therapy’ or ‘sand play’ therapy, and some kind of memory recall therapy,” the nurse said. “It seemed to be kept secret from us, kept away.”

The senior psychiatrist, who has since left the hospital, said he found it “absurd” that a young woman receiving treatment for serious mental health issues in a psychiatric ward would simultaneously undergo counselling in a separate sexual assault centre.

“They’re two different services with a completely different orientation,” he said. “It’s quite unsatisfactory. And, just as a consultant psychiatrist, I never felt that the approach of sending people from a psych unit to a counselling service was appropriate.”

He recalled that the young woman’s case divided staff, with some expressing doubt about the allegations she was making against her parents, while her treating doctors appeared to be unquestioning. According to hospital records, the young woman was “flooded” with memories of abuse six months after she was first admitted, and began remembering that her father had raped her from the age of eight.
...'
 
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You have to pay for this one don’t you?
Oui le petit vert

You have to do what's best for you.

Crime pays for the Australian pleadia.

Although there's a 7 day jury and judge free trial of the CrimeXXX$$$ Channelle on the exclusive Black Label Apple Mr Plodcast, if you can risk it.
 
hospital-staff-believed-in-possession/news-story/5d10fcb0da843e75c4d952269ed4f5dc

'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.'

*

Got all the makings of Nurse Ratched.
 
Ep3 (paywalled)of the podcast is out (article on it below)

Ep1 is now free to listen to


'Daughter recovered memories after learning Dad ‘groomed’ schoolgirls'

'3:30PM APRIL 14, 2023'

'A young woman whose parents were jailed after she accused them of 13 years of sadistic abuse remembered the crimes only after learning that her father had faced grooming allegations 30 years earlier, according to medical files in the case.'

'the young woman’s father, a former high school teacher, was accused by at least four students in the 1980s of grooming and sexual offences.'

At one school, three female students made allegations which were found to be substantially true, but the father was allowed to resign and no charges were laid. He was later the subject of allegations at another school and was again allowed to resign, before quitting school teaching.

The father denies committing sexual offences but admits he placed himself in compromising situations with students. For legal reasons, The Australian is unable to reveal details about the allegations.
...
The daughter was 17 when she first sought psychiatric treatment, after accusing a sports coach of sexually assaulting her in a hotel room overseas. Her memory of that assault only came back to her more than week after it allegedly happened, according to two friends who have spoken to the podcast.

Six months later, while still in psychiatric care, she began remembering that her father had violently raped her at the age of seven. Doctors noted that she had recently learned about her father’s history as a teacher in the 1980s, and had taken an overdose.

Her former boyfriend has told the podcast the couple’s daughter may have learned about her father’s past from a police officer who was looking into her overseas rape allegations, who visited her in hospital and started investigating her father.

The daughter was providing a statement to her lawyers about that overseas incident when she began remembering incidents of sexual abuse by her father, according to the boyfriend and two other people who have spoken to the podcast.
...
Shadow of Doubt is available on The Australian’s app and shadowofdoubt.com.au
Subscribers hear episodes first and get access to all our bonus content including video, explainers and articles.
You can hear Episode 1 now wherever you get your podcasts
, and go to The Australian’s app to binge Episodes 2 and 3.'
 
I've found some more info on the WA 1994 Bunbury case involving recovered repressed memories acquittal, as reported in Shadow of Doubt podcast (Episode 4) and a follow up article in the Australian online news site this morning, in a 1999 QC penned article on Repressed Memory Syndrome.

Note the footnote reference for this 1994 case says 'R v Jumeaux (unreported, Supreme Court, WA, 23 September 1994)'

Does anyone remember anything about this trial by Jury case in 1994, that appears to have been suppressed/unreported at the time. (I was living in WA then).

'Repressed Memory Syndrome
David Grace QC
Australian LAW LIBRARIAN March 1999'

... We also have disputes between experts. On occasions you have the prosecution calling an expert to explain the veracity of a recovered memory. In the same case you will have the defence calling an expert to give evidence about all the defects in the process
...
How is a jury or a judge meant to deal with these problems? It is almost an impossible task. The suggestion that I make is this. In the past there was a requirement in particular types of cases, sexual cases being one of them and let me say that recovered memory is not just restricted to sexual cases, it can apply across the board to any crime.

But there was a requirement in respect of certain crimes that there be independent corroboration for an allegation.

Independent corroboration means supporting evidence nom an independent source, untainted nom any connection with the actual witness alleging the crime.

To a large extent the need for corroboration has been whittled down in recent years, particularly in respect of sexual allegations. This is understandable in cases where there are allegations of sexual abuse or rape as often there are no independent witnesses and therefore no independent corroboration. However this is a different issue and in cases where we are dealing with great lengths of time between dates of alleged offence and the date of the court case I suggest that there should be a special rule. This rule should be a requirement for independent corroboration because the danger of someone being convicted erroneously as a result of the process of recovered memory is too great. The courts, especially appeal courts are recognising this phenomena.

In Bunbury, Western Australia in 1994 there was a case called Jumeaux
(15), in which two daughters made allegations of sexual abuse against their father.

The jury considered evidence that the daughter's memories had been repressed, The memories were recovered by various forms of counselling and psychotherapy.

Justice Seaman of the Western Australian Supreme Court cautioned the jury in the strongest possible terms about the dangers of accepting the evidence.
When he cautioned the jury he was not saying that these girls were being dishonest or that they were deliberately confabulating. He was saying that the fact the girls honestly believed that these events had occurred did not mean that they did occur. The dangers were exposed in the expert evidence that was called during the trial and the possibility of false evidence being produced by suggestion was highlighted by that evidence.

...
In my view enough has been written now on the subject to highlight the inherent dangers of convicting on the basis of such evidence. The role of the expert is an area that is constantly under review. There are great divergences of opinion between experts on the subject and comts in Austtalia and overseas are grappling with the problem regularly. There ar·e reported cases in Canada, many cases in the United States and in New Zealand and England.

In time a clear set of guidelines and rules for the admissibility of this evidence will be developed as will appropriate warnings juries and standards that will govern admissibility of the evidence in the first place. The issue of repressed memory syndrome is a complex one.

I have sought to highlight some of the problems that are encountered and the dangers of miscarriages of justice in certain circumstances.

We as a community should be concerned not only that proper cases of sexual abuse or other crimes be brought before the courtss and the perpetrators punished, but also that miscarriages of justice not occur because of an acceptance of evidence which has an uncertain foundation.

(15) R v Jumeaux (unreported, Supreme Court, WA, 23 September 1994)


'My sisters’ memories of abuse destroyed our Dad’s life

By RICHARD GUILLIATT

8:01AM APRIL 25, 2023
...
A retired school headmaster who narrowly avoided jail in one of the first ‘repressed memory’ sexual abuse cases in Australia never fully recovered from the ordeal of being publicly accused of torturing and raping his daughters, his son has revealed.

The Australian’s Shadow of Doubt podcast this week reveals previously unreported facts about a case that caused sensational headlines 30 years ago, when two sisters in Western Australia accused their father of sexual abuse and torture extending over 20 years.

At their father’s trial, the sisters acknowledged that they had no memory of the abuse until they began consulting counsellors in their 20s and recovered repressed memories of their father, brother uncles and grandfather abusing them, sometimes in occult ceremonies.

In an interview for the podcast, their brother, ‘Kevin’, reveals that in the years after his father’s acquittal, his sisters reconciled with their parents despite the horrific allegations they had made in court.

“My mother …. said it was incredible, like old times – they laughed and joked and so forth together,” Kevin recalls. “But … when anything about the court case was raised, they wouldn’t talk about it. It was like the elephant in the room.”

One of the sisters is now a psychotherapist specialising in trauma and dissociation.

The sisters cannot be named for legal reasons, and they declined to speak to the podcast about the case, which was held in the WA Supreme Court in 1994.

The jury acquitted their father on 15 charges and failed to reach a verdict on the remaining 27.

‘Kevin’ is a doctor, and said that even after his father’s acquittal, he feared that he himself would be charged, because one of his sisters had accused him of performing a crude pregnancy termination on her in a pine forest when she was 18.
...
Kevin said that when his father died in 2014, at the age of 85, all five of his children were at his bedside, and attended his funeral.
...'
 
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(15) R v Jumeaux (unreported, Supreme Court, WA, 23 September 1994)
A couple of documents related to this case (but not the Judgement) are on the WA ecourts site between 'IVOR CLYDE JUMEAUX' and the Queen.

[1994] Library 94053422 Sep 1994RR -v- JUMEAUX
[1994] Library 94050412 Sep 1994RJUMEAUX -v- R

12 Sep 1994 application for a seperate trial (7 page pdf)

22 Sep 1994 served subpoenas for documents related (8 page pdf)
 
Kevin said that when his father died in 2014, at the age of 85, all five of his children were at his bedside, and attended his funeral.


 

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I have now listened to the first 3 episodes and I have to say that it is one of the most disturbing podcasts I have listened to (surprising as I have listened to a lot of true crime podcasts). Firstly, the subject nature (incest, mental health, suicide attempts etc); secondly, the constant pro parents narrative in the episodes so far; three, it is meant to be anonymised but it takes less than 3 minutes of internet searching to find out who they are IRL.
 
Just listened to "The Worst of the Worst" podcast and this podcast follows the Teacher's Pet style of mostly one sided commentary. I still don't know what to think. However, I am not surprised that the husband's and wife's legal teams refused to discuss the case, especially the couple in jail are pushing for a judicial review.

I was wondering is it normal for a judge to comment on Facebook post calling the two victims as "my heroes"?
 
The guy's scum. I don't really care if he's innocent of this one, he's guilty of plenty of other stuff. Karma's a bitch. * him.
 
The guy's scum. I don't really care if he's innocent of this one, he's guilty of plenty of other stuff. Karma's a bitch. * him.
Sounds like the sort of attitude/reasoning that possibly played a big part in getting this guy convicted.
 

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