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Kidnapped by family: Trio saving her from ‘cult’ charged

The Hamilton Spectator, Canada
July 27, 2006
Paul Legall
www.hamiltonspectator.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Thursday July 27, 2006

A Burlington family charged with kidnapping believed they were rescuing their daughter from a religious cult when they dragged her off a downtown street seven months ago.

“The family believed a church in Hamilton to be a cult and their actions to be an intervention,” Hamilton Detective Dave Brady said yesterday.

He declined to identify the family, the woman or the church involved. He added the investigation is continuing and police are expecting to make more arrests, apart from the three family members who were charged this week.

The 22-year-old woman was walking to work on Park Street North at about 8:30 a.m., Dec. 21, when a group of men forced her into a van and took her to an undisclosed location in Halton where she was held against her will until Dec. 30.

On that date, the kidnappers drove her to another house from which she escaped to a neighbour’s home. The neighbours alerted Halton police.

Halton police started the investigation but later turned it over to Hamilton police.

This week, Hamilton detectives charged her 25-year-old brother and 53-year-old father with abduction and confinement and her 54-year-old mother with confinement only. In law, confinement means holding someone against their will.

Deprogramming

Deprogramming is a process that reverses alleged brainwashing. It is controversial in that the process is usually started without the voluntary cooperation of the person being deprogrammed.

Initially, the term ‘deprogramming’ referred to both voluntary and involuntary intervention. Over time, however, the term came to refer primarily to involuntary intervention.

Guidelines for selecting a counselor/cult expert

Normally, when someone is kidnapped and held against their will, police jump in quickly to lay criminal charges. But in this case, it took almost seven months to lay the charges and only after consultation with the Crown attorney’s office.

In this case, despite the seriousness of the charges, the family members didn’t have to appear for a bail hearing and were released on a “promise to appear” pending their trial. They’ll make their first appearance at the John Sopinka courthouse Aug. 28.

Police said the woman has resumed her normal lifestyle in Hamilton. She has co-operated with the investigation and is willing to testify against her family.

Often, when a child is rescued from a suspected cult, the family will hire a de-programmer to counteract the brainwashing they believe has occurred at the hands of the group.

But police wouldn’t say whether a de-programmer was involved in this case.

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward. Anyone with information is asked to contact Hamilton detectives at 905-546-3818 or Crime Stoppers at 905-522-8477.