
Ritual abuse, Satanic ritual abuse (SRA), multiple personality
disorder (MPD),
recovered memory therapy (RMT), etc.
News items, from 2009-NOV to now
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News items:It is now almost four decades since the sudden increase in interest in allegations of SRA, MPD and RMT. Very few therapists are still promoting any of these three belief systems. However, the occasional mention does surface from time to time. Usually it is in the form of evidence that SRA never existed, that MPD is an iatrogenic (physician induced) disorder and that RMT generally uncovers "memories" of events that never happened. Still, there are many tens of thousands of victims of therapy, and probably hundreds of thousands of friends and family members who are still suffering directly or indirectly from these allegations.
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2009-NOV-06: SK: The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan ritual abuse hoax finally closed: "The Scandal of the Century"
was finally laid to rest. This hoax had involved the prosecution of the Klassen and Kvello families for Satanic Ritual Abuse of
children back in the early 1990s.
In a 7-0 decision, the
Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Crown Prosecutor Matthew Miazga did not
maliciously prosecute the two sets of parents. Justice Louise Charron, writing for the Court, said a
finding of malice must meet a four-point test and the case against Miazga fell
short. She wrote:
"There is no question that the respondents were the
victims of a clear miscarriage of justice which undoubtedly had a devastating
effect on their lives. ... Especially in the absence of an acquittal, it is
often difficult for people wrongly accused of such crimes to fully regain
their positions in society and free themselves from the stigma and trauma of
those false allegations. The fact that we now know that the children's
allegations of sexual abuse were false, however, does not provide the answer
to whether the respondents' action in malicious prosecution against the Crown
prosecutor can succeed. ... It is my view that there is no evidence to support
a finding of malice or improper purpose. In light of the respondents' failure
to prove malice, it is not necessary to determine whether there was a lack of
reasonable and probable grounds to proceed at the time Miazga initiated the
prosecution more than 18 years ago. ... Given that the children's allegations
are now known to have been false, no useful purpose would be served by
revisiting 'the facts' as they appeared at that time."
The ruling will not affect the settlement payments previously made to the
families.
Jennifer Graham, writing for the Canadian Press, wrote:
"Justice Charron said the sex abuse accusations had to be put in the
context of the early 1990s. At the time, the rules of evidence had changed,
eliminating the requirement for corroboration of unsworn evidence of children.
There was also a prevailing and pervasive doctrine, now debunked but popular
among child psychologists at the time, that 'children don't lie about abuse'." 9
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2009-NOV-17: MO: Child abuse allegations in Bates City: Accusations similar to those made in the 1980s and early 1990s involving Satanic Ritual Abuse surfaced again in Bates City. Three sisters told
police that back in 1988-APR, they were, as children, forced to participate in the murder of
a stranger who had been picked up by Burrell Mohler, Jr. at a nearby shopping
center and driven to the Mohler farm. The victim was allegedly then buried on
the farm. Police did an intensive search of the property and found a glass
fragment, a bone, a half of a credit card, eye glasses, a shoe sole and more
pieces of glass.... but no body.
A woman who had seen the news in the media contacted police and stated that she had
been held a prisoner in the basement of the same farmhouse "for years," and was
raped by all five of the males accused in the murder. She claims that she
became pregnant twice, and one of the newborns was placed in a box, buried in
the basement, and covered over with cement. Police investigated the basement,
dug part of it up, and carted away four jars of dirt ... but no body. 10,11
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2009-NOV-27: NC: Unusual criminal case involving Satanism and sadomasochism: Joseph Scott Craig, 26, his wife, Joy Johnson, 30, Dianna Palmer, 44, and
another man and woman apparently developed a friendship based on a shared
interest in Satanism. They purchased a house in Cottage Woods Court, NC where
they lived together. The other couple later reported to police that they had
been beaten, shackled to beds, kept in dog cages and starved. However,
according to a defense attorney: "We had adults involved in consensual
activities, and they didn't make any effort to report these to law enforcement
until months later." Scott and Johnson entered Alford pleas in which they
claimed innocence but admitted that the prosecution had enough evidence to
convict them in court. They were given consecutive 60-day suspended sentences
and a year of probation. 12
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2010-MAY-16: North America: Repeat broadcast of TV program contained reference to SRA: An episode of Law and Order - Special Victims Unit that was originally broadcast in 2009 was rebroadcast. A detective mentioned that reports of abuse by devil worshipers has been around for centuries, most recently in the 1980s. But investigators finally figured out that Satanic Ritual Abuse is a sham. However, this does not prevent some non-Satanic pedophiles scaring their victims into silence by pretending to be Satanists.
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2011-JAN-26: Canada: The Fifth Estate program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a documentary by Bountiful Films called "When the Devil Knocks."
The documentary concerns Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), a.k.a. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). It is composed of segments from 40 hours of tapes of therapy sessions of Hilary Stanton of Edmonton, AB, Canada. They were filmed over a 12 year interval. The documentary was intended to train therapists in the treatment of DID. According to the Vancouver Sun newspaper:
"In the film, director Slinger treats the legitimacy of the illness as a foregone conclusion, and instead of examining it politically or in broader context, chooses to focus specifically on Stanton's experiences living with DID and her attempts to best it."
The False Memory Syndrome Foundation newsletter commented that the film:
"... could have done some service, perhaps, if this practice of [therapists] talking to alters were put in the context of critics who contend the symptoms of MPD disappear when the alters are ignored. This is one of many important issues that were neglected." Sadly, Hilary Stanton died in a car collision with a dead animal in Mexico; her wife Debbie survived.
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2011-MAR-06: North America: Unsubstantiated rumors and questionable memories of Satanic Ritual Abuse have entered their fourth decade without hard evidence of their reality. By now, SRA has been thoroughly debunked.
However, the Investigation Discovery channel rebroadcast a documentary on forensic science called "F2: Forensic Factor" that was originally aired in 2008. The description of the program referred to how "A small town is plagued by Satanic rituals and murder." Anticipating a reference to murders by Satanists, I wasted an hour watching the program. It described multiple murders during 1986 in Farmington NM by sociopaths or psychopaths. The only connection to Satanism was a rather tenuous link to some youths and young adults play-acting swordplay in the desert.
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2013-JUL-08: North America: The second half of the Dr. Phil TV program dealt with Jenny Hill, Robert, her adult son. and Judy Byington, her therapist. According to Jenny and Judy, Jenny is a victim of ritual abuse, which included human sacrifice. She recalls the involvement of a Nazi mind-control expert; this may be a reference to Dr. Greenbaum (a.k.a. Dr. Green) who is often mentioned in ritual abuse circles. She had repressed many memories of her past, has recovered them, and still suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder). Jenny's family believes that Byington is exploiting Jenny. Byington has written a book:
"Twenty Two Faces: Inside the extraordinary life of Jenny Hill and her twenty-two multiple personalities," Tate Publishing, (2012-MAY). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store It is available in paperback and Kindle formats.
During the program Dr. Phil mentioned that during his 35 year counseling career, he has never met a legitimate case involving Dissociative Identity Disorder. He said that there are major segments of the mental health profession that do not believe that it is a legitimate diagnosis.
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References:The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
-
Jennifer Graham, "Prosecutor not malicious in pressing satanic sex-abuse case: Supreme Court, The Canadian Press, 2009-NOV-06, at: http://wwrn.org/
- Jennifer Graham, "Prosecutor not malicious in
pressing satanic sex-abuse case: Supreme Court," Canadian Press, 2009-NOV-06.
at: http://www.google.com/
- Charles McAlpin, "Bates City, Mo. child abuse
allegations reminiscent of '80's ritual abuse panics," Portland Examiner,
2009-NOV-17, at: http://www.examiner.com/
- "Daughters say Mohler Jr. forced them to kidnap,
kill man," KCTV5 news, 2009-NOV, at: http://www.kctv5.com/
- Thomas Goldsmith, "Pair's pleas end sex assault
case," Ners & Observer, 2009-NOV-28, at: http://www.newsobserver.com/
- "Canadian Broadcasting System takes a giant leap backwards: Training for MPD 'When the Devil Knocks," FMS Foundation Newsletter, 2001-Spring, Page 8.

Copyright © 2009 to 2018 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.
Latest update: 2018-AUG-31
Author: B.A. Robinson 
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