Sect leader accused of assaulting girl, 12

The Sydney Morning Herald/May 26, 2006
By Leonie Lamont

A girl who was allegedly being indecently assaulted by sect leader Kenneth Dyers was part of a support group which travelled to Canberra where Dyers was fighting to have a conviction for an earlier molestation case overturned.

A committal hearing at Downing Local Court heard yesterday that the 12-year-old girl and her parents, all members of the Kenja personal development organisation, travelled to the High Court hearing in Canberra in April 2002.

Dyers, 84, is alleged to have indecently assaulted the girl between December 2001 and July 2002 during "energy conversion" sessions at the Kenja headquarters at Surry Hills.

The girl's mother agreed to questioning by Dyers' barrister, Graham Turnbull, that the girl had "involved herself actively in manifesting support for Mr Dyers" at the High Court hearing.

Dyers is facing 22 charges of indecent assault involving two girls, whose families were members of the Kenja group.

The mother said her daughter was a "junior professional" who "processed" Dyers, and his wife and Kenja co-founder, Jan Hamilton, in "energy conversion" sessions each week.

She said her daughter was extremely stressed.

She said in July 2002 her daughter told her she "wasn't OK" with what was occurring in the sessions.

"She said she was taken into a room where there wasn't a third person present and asked to take her clothes off, and she was touched during energy conversion processing ... she didn't go into detail."

The mother agreed that the family had decided at the time not to tell anyone, but the court heard that after the girl told a counsellor of her allegations, the police became involved several months later.

The committal hearing before Magistrate Jacqueline Trad continues.