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Canada: Crown drops charges in ‘cult’ rescue kidnapping
Parents abducted daughter because of fears about church
The prosecution has decided not to pursue kidnapping and forcible confinement charges against a family doctor and his teacher wife who abducted their daughter three years ago because they believed she was being brainwashed by a religious cult.
Dominion Christian CentreWatch “The Pied Piper of Hamilton” – a four-part report by CTV: (Depending on your connection, video may take a few moments to load): Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4Learn more about abusive churchesWhat is a cult?What is a cult of Christianity?The deprogramming controversyHow to select a counselor/cult expertResearch resources on Dominion Christian CentreComments & resources by ReligionNewsBlog.comDeputy Crown attorney Katherine Livingstone told Superior Court Justice James Turnbull she was staying all charges against Dr. Renato Brun del Re and his wife Lucie Brun del Re, both 57, their son, Giancarlo Brun del Re, 29. Livingstone told court she was halting the prosecution in the best interests of the public and the alleged victim of the kidnapping, Mirella Brun del Re, now 26.
Mirella Brun del Re recently met with police and prosecutors to say she had no wish to see her family tried on such serious charges and potentially facing significant prison terms.
[...]At the centre of the bizarre kidnapping plot is a charismatic church leader known as Pastor Peter Rigo, who founded the evangelical Dominion Christian Centre Canada, now known as One Community Church, on Park Street North in Hamilton.
The victim’s family saw the abduction as an intervention and hired a U.S.-based consultant who has overseen scores of anti-cult interventions to talk to their daughter.
Cult Expert
The U.S.-based consultant in this case was cult expert Mary Alice Chrnalogar, author of Twisted Scriptures: A Path to Freedom from Abusive Churches.
In an August 2006 phone interview with The Hamilton Spectator, Chrnalogar said, “I didn’t come up there to take part in anything, I did come up there and talked to the family.”
She says she spoke with the family about intervention strategies, and even spoke with the woman at the centre of the alleged abduction, but she insists that she has nothing to do with involuntary deprogramming attempts, the National Post wrote in September that year.
See Also
• Guidelines for selecting a cult expert
• Dominion Christian Centre: The Pied Piper of Hamilton
• Dominion Christian Centre found Gucci divine, charity watchdog discovers: An evangelical church that used donor money to pay for gym memberships, Gucci fashion accessories and trips to Hawaii and elsewhere for its directors has been stripped of its charitable licence by the federal government.
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