Sect leader who raped thousands of female followers claiming he could heal them through sex sparks international arrest warrant

Mail, UK/October 8, 2014

By Sam Webb

A sect leader who raped women in a convent he set up - telling them sex would heal them spiritually - is on the run from Czech officials

Officers have issued an international arrest warrant for self-titled spiritual guru Jaroslav Dobes, 43, who reportedly had sex with more than 350 devotees between setting up his convent in the city of Zlin in Czech Republic's Moravia in 2002 and going on the run in 2007.

He even charged the women thousands of pounds for the service, many of whom were pressured into going through the ordeal with him and paying the money, a court heard.

He was found guilty this week at a trial in his absence and sentenced to 10 years for the sex attacks, although the court heard he is now living in Asia where he had set up a new sect and was still offering sex for sale to his disciples.

Jaroslav Dobes known as 'Guru Jara', 'Om' or as the 'Uber Alpha Male' was charged with raping at least eight women at the convent between 2004 and 2007.

Also sentenced was his assistant Barbora Plaskova, 40, who helped him with all his activities and was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison.

Dobes and Plsakova were represented in court by their lawyers because the couple are in Thailand.

Dobes told his followers that he could help them with everything from their spirituality, tarot, yoga and feng-shui since he started out as a self-proclaimed guru in 1996.

The school and convent, known as Poetrie, that he established in 2002 was only for women. He also took seminars and organised conferences across the Czech Republic teaching yoga, astrology, feng shui and tantra.

But it was the technique called 'unhooking' that saw the group finally exposed as a conman.

His victims said he had told them that 'when a man and woman sleep together they join up their energies so that they never split again. A man can suck energy from a woman through that hook, it makes the woman tired.

'But if a man has more hooks he has more energy and he is in better position to give the woman energy and help.'

One of Dobes's clients – a woman who had been 18 when she met him – described her horrific experience in a short video statement to the court.

The young woman, who kept her face covered, said that she had gone to him after problems in a relationship and that Dobes's assistant Barbora Plaskova had advised her to try the 'unhooking'.

She said: 'I was apprehensive about going through with it but I decided to try it.'

The court heard that Plaskova took the victim to a tiny apartment in Prague, told her to undress and to lie naked on the bed. She said Plaskova then did some breathing exercises with her to get her ready for the unhooking.

Marie said: 'Jara came, encircled me with crystals then entered me with force. It was extremely painful and had nothing to do with tantra.

'It was hurting me, I was terrified. But I was so brainwashed that I even then still believed that this was in some way good for me.'

She said that the ordeal with the frequent sessions went on for six months and it was only at the end of it when she felt worse than ever that she realised she had been conned.

Dobes's unusual methods of removing the negative energy finally resulted in a police investigation in 2007 on a number of victims came forward, and in the same year he vanished abroad. He was joined by his assistant two years later when police widened the investigation to include her as well.

Other victims also spoke of the horrific ordeal at the hands of the guru and sect leader.

One said: 'I had to get undressed, I was made to do stomach breathing exercise that left me weakened and unable to defend myself. I wasn't able to control my body. There were candles and music playing and incense that left me confused.'

She and others also said that as well as being made to have sex with the guru, they had also been interfered with by his assistant who said that she was stimulating them to prepare them for the spiritual experience.

Prosecutor Yvetta Eichlerova said Dobes had sexual intercourse with as many as 350 of his female clients.

Some of them did it willingly, she admitted, but added that many others had been pressured and lied to and then put in a position where they were unable to defend themselves.

According to accusation he raped at least eight women between 2004 and 2007 but the real number was probably far higher.

Psychologist Alena Gayova who treated many of his victims told the court that they were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and that in many cases this was chronic and had resulted in life-long consequences.

Typical symptoms were relationship problems, depression and low self-esteem.

Guru Jara's defence lawyer Libor Knott urged the court to throw out the charges saying that all of the women had gone into the sex act with the sect leader willingly. He said: 'The women knew what would happen so it was not a crime.'

However judge Iveta Sperclichova decided that Dobes and Plaskova chose their clients carefully by targeting vulnerable young women.

Handing out the sentence she said: 'They only chose attractive young women who could also be useful to them financially and as sex objects. It is clear that the main idea of their school was not helping people.'

Dobes, who also claims to be a photographer, writer, traveller and mountain climber is offering books and photographs on his website, as well as personal consultations. A three-day session with Guru Jara costs 108,000 Czech Koruna (£3,085).

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