Cult leader Kenneth Emmanuel Dyers shot dead

AAP, Australia/July 1, 2007

A cult leader accused of sexually abusing young girls has been found shot dead at his Sydney home.

Kenneth Emmanuel Dyers, co-founder of the so-called spiritual healing group Kenja, "took his own life", the group's website said.

The body of the 85-year-old was found with a gunshot wound to the head at his home at Bundeena, in Sydney's south.

Police said they were called to the home about 11am (AEST) yesterday.

The death was not being treated as suspicious and a report was being prepared for the coroner, a spokesman said.

Dyers, a World War II veteran, was last year committed to stand trial on 22 child sex offences.

The charges related to the alleged assaults of two 12-year-old girls at Kenja's offices in Sydney's Surry Hills between December 2001 and 2002.

A statement on Kenja's website said Dyers had been suffering "serious ill-health".

"This is a tragic day for Australia and for the human spirit," the statement said. "There has been a relentless attack on Ken and Kenja for over 20 years.

"This attack was launched by spurious, so-called anti-cult groups, some politicians and individuals with criminal intentions, who have fabricated false allegations of child sexual abuse against him."

The statement said police had continued to "hound and harass" Dyers, and more allegations had been made against him "after a court had determined that Mr Dyers' health meant he could not receive a fair trial".

"It is clear that Ken decided he could not, in his state of health, continue to fight any longer," it said.

"We in Kenja feel a great loss, and we will cherish and honour Ken's memory and his work forever."