Maoist cult leader 'raped followers, jailed daughter'
A charismatic Maoist revolutionary raped female followers and imprisoned his own daughter for 30 years after brainwashing them into believing he was an all-powerful and all-seeing leader, a court heard today.
Aravindan Balakrishnan, 75, ruled over a dwindling band of women supporters in his south London communist collective using threats and violence as he pursued his goal of overthrowing the "fascist state”.
His daughter - whose mother was another member of the collective - was beaten, bullied and rarely left the house with Mr Balakrishnan using her fear of the outside world to terrify her into submission.
She never went to school, played with a friend or saw a doctor during her childhood and the power that he held over her meant that she could not leave for the first three decades of her life, said Rosina Cottage QC, counsel for the prosecution. By the time that she left, she was ill with diabetes.
Mr Balakrishnan, a charismatic and energetic speaker, was the organiser of a communist group in the 1970s based in Brixton, known as the Workers Institute, the court heard.
He is accused of raping and indecently assaulting two women members of the group, including one who was allegedly attacked seven times over a period of about 12 years from 1980.
The two victims of rape stayed in the collective too frightened to leave and hating to stay, said Ms Cottage. "They were forced into sexual acts over which they had no choice and were deliberately degrading and humiliating. He seemed to exult in his power over them."
The atmosphere in the collective was controlled by him and his moods, with every woman living a life of fear, violence, isolation and confinement, the court heard.
Mr Balakrishnan, of Latymer Road, Enfield, is also charged with child cruelty and false imprisonment of his own daughter. He denies the charges against him.
The case continues.
