Exorcism leads to charges
The death of Wainuiomata woman Janet Moses during an attempt to lift a Maori curse, or makutu, was very widely reported (eg NZ Herald, November 12). Now six women and three men have been charged with her manslaughter (Dominion Post, 12 December). One of the accused women and another man are also charged with cruelty to a child after a 14-year-old was injured in the same ceremony and was treated in hospital for an eye injury.
Police say the 22-year-old mother of two drowned after she was held down and had water poured down her throat in a ceremony.
The paternal family of Janet Moses say it is a relief that those accused of her death have been arrested and charged. The accused have been granted interim name suppression and bailed to reappear on February 12.
Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Levy said the accused were members of Ms Moses’ extended family. As many as 40 people were at the house during the ceremony and more came and went throughout the day after she died. Police said she had been dead for about nine hours before they were called and have since interviewed dozens of people in relation to the death.
Anglican Maori Church archdeacon Hone Kaa says ‘lifting ceremonies’ were often used to cleanse victims.
The curse was believed to have been linked to a relative stealing a taonga (treasure). He said water was often used in such ceremonies, but not the amounts understood to have been involved in Ms Moses’ case.
He said lifting curses was a difficult process and was wary of doing it. In some cases victims needed to be held down by several people as the spirit fought, but he was not familiar with injuries such as the scratches and grazes found on Moses being inflicted.
‘Psychics’ misbehave
An Auckland ‘psychic’ who claims to heal sex abuse victims has been accused of inappropriate sexual remarks to clients following an investigation by undercover Herald on Sunday reporters (4 November). John Clarke, who charges $60 an hour for “acupressure, internal health, emotional problems, spiritual readings, distant healing, or horse and greyhound advice” reportedly had a client leave in tears after he told her “your granddad is telling me to keep my hands off you.”
He also told the woman her grandfather thought her father was a w*****, that her current relationship would fail, and insinuated that she slept around.
Clarke repeatedly told one of the reporters sent by the paper how attracted he was to her, and both noted his readings were incorrect. He told the first reporter her grandfather’s dead (and nonexistent) brother was giving him messages. She became uncomfortable when Clarke told her he did healing and started pressing his fingers into the back of her left shoulder, saying, “I love touching women.”
He three times called the other reporter a “little bitch”, asked if her boyfriend was “oversexed”, and talked about how aroused he had become while doing a reading for another client.
When the Herald on Sunday put these statements to Clarke he said he couldn’t remember seeing the reporters, even though one had visited just days before.
The Herald on Sunday broke the story of North Shore counsellor and healer Geoffrey Mogridge who is alleged to have had sex with paying women clients last year. Mogridge is currently before the Human Rights Review Tribunal facing damages claims totalling $175,000.
If someone is charging a fee and professing to be a healer they are responsible under the Health and Disability Commissioner Act, and the Privacy and Consumer Guarantee Act, according to Patrick Fahy of the New Zealand Charter of Health Practitioners.
“People who practise psychic healing and aren’t members of any particular register don’t adhere to any code of ethics until such time as something goes wrong,” Fahy said. “Some people have real psychic ability, but there are some whose practices are possibly questionable. It’s quite a lucrative type business for some of these people.”
‘Bodyfinder’ misses out
The parents of missing British child Madeleine McCann have been warned not to put their faith in a DNA tracking device developed in South Africa (www.mirror.co.uk, 8 October). Danie Krugel, a self-styled “bodyfinder”, says his device has pinpointed a stretch of beach just 500 metres from Kate and Gerry McCann’s apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. But South African mother Varenda Gouws, who was sent on a fruitless trek after hiring Krugel and his device to track down her missing son urged the McCanns not to trust him.
She said she gave Krugel a hair from her son Rayno’s razor, after he disappeared on a hiking holiday. Krugel fed it into his Matter Orientation System, which he claims combines DNA testing and GPS satellite technology to track down missing people anywhere in the world.
“It was an endless track,” Gouws said. “We drove through South Africa for 4,300 miles. He absolutely convinced us, saying ‘Rayno is moving’. He said he must be in a truck or a car because he was moving so fast. Every time we left our jobs and packed up and went to these places and put articles in the newspapers. It cost us a fortune.”
Rayno’s remains were eventually found eight months after he vanished, in a forest near where he was last seen. It is thought he died from a snake bite.
“It was clear that he had been dead for eight months because there was no flesh on the bones and there were ferns growing through the body. But when I phoned Danie to tell him, he was really aggressive. He said it was not possible. He blamed me. He said, ‘This is a lie. Nobody can tell you how long a body is dead.'”
Judge calls on elves
A Philippines trial court judge who lost his position after he acknowledged he regularly sought the counsel of three elves only he could see is now trying to get his job back (Wall Street Journal, 17 September).
Florentino Floro says his invisible companions are a neutral force called Angel, a benign influence known as Armand, and Luis the avenger, whom Floro describes as King of Kings.
Floro has become a regular on Philippine television, and is often asked to make predictions with the help of his invisible friends. “They say your show will be taken off the air if you don’t feature me more often,” was Floro’s reply to one interviewer.
The day after his first appearance on television last year, hundreds of people turned up at his house in a dusty Manila suburb hoping he could use his supernatural powers to heal their illnesses.
The Supreme Court says its medical clinic determined Floro was suffering from psychosis. Even so, a series of disturbing incidents appear to have the nation’s top jurists rattled.
According to local newspaper reports, a mysterious fire in January destroyed the Supreme Court’s crest in its session hall, and several members of the court or their close family members developed serious illnesses or had car accidents. In July, the Supreme Court issued a resolution asking Floro to desist in his threats of “ungodly reprisal”.
Floro says Luis, not himself, is to blame for the incidents, and is bent on cleaning up what he says is the Philippines’ corrupt legal system.
Creationists want to teach science education
As if education in Texas didn’t have enough trouble (see p2), the Institute for Creation Research wants to offer an online master’s degree in science education (Dallas Morning News, 15 December). A state advisory group has already given its approval; the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board will consider the request this January.
The ICR has offered science degrees in California for years, with graduate courses since 1981, and online courses in the last two years, taken by “more than 50” students worldwide. It was necessary to get approval from the Texas authorities to offer degrees in that state after the ICR moved from San Diego to Dallas in 2006.
“It just seems odd to license an organisation to offer a degree in science when they’re not teaching science,” said Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, which opposes teaching creationism in public schools.
