A hypnotherapist acquitted of assaulting a client

Singapore State Courts as seen on April 21, 2020 (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE – A hynotherapist was acquitted of a sexual assault charge after the judge felt it was not safe to convict him, in part due to the alleged victim’s inability to remember this that had happened when she was hypnotized.

Sreekamal Asante Parambil Kalesan, a 43-year-old Singaporean, had demanded his trial for assaulting the victim, then 17, on April 9, 2017 at the Petra Hypnosis & Training Center, by kissing her cheek and forehead.

He was acquitted by District Judge John Ng after his lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan closed the defense case.

In rendering his verdict on Monday (November 22), DJ Ng noted that the onus was not on the defense to prove Sreekamal’s innocence and that it was enough to raise a reasonable doubt about the prosecution.

The main issue discussed by DJ Ng was the alleged victim’s version of events, which contained irreconcilable inconsistencies. On the contrary, Sreekamal’s testimony did not contain any significant inconsistency that undermined his credibility.

While the alleged victim testified that her eyes were open, she later claimed that her eyes were closed. This was an essential aspect of the accusation against Sreekamal, as it showed how Sreekamal would have embraced her and would have an implication on her reaction.

The alleged victim also gave different testimony about when Sreekamal allegedly hugged her.

“The (alleged victim) could not adequately explain the various material inconsistencies in her testimony in court. These unsatisfactory aspects of the evidence… made the conviction of the accused uncertain, ”said DJ Ng.

“The accused simply did not know of any reason for the (alleged victim) to do so. Instead, the defense suggested that she may have been wrong about what really happened because she was under hypnosis.

The judge noted that the alleged victim had difficulty remembering what had happened while she was hypnotized. The alleged victim had agreed with the defense that she was in a state between conscious and unconscious, which affected her memory and what she was able to remember.

Additionally, her mother, who was present at some of the hypnotherapy sessions, testified that Sreekamal was able to put her daughter into a hypnotic state.

“Whether or not the (alleged victim) was hypnotized at the time of the incident is not easy to determine in this case,” said DJ Ng, who stressed that there had no objective evidence, which could testify to her. State.

“There was a video clip of the (alleged victim), recorded on the same day and shortly after the alleged offense, which showed the (alleged victim) having a hallucination of an apple turning into an orange as he there was no physical fruit in the palm of the accused, ”he said.

The victim had claimed that she had not hallucinated, but had only imagined the fruit in Sreekamal’s hand. However, the judge ruled that it was not possible to discern whether she was hallucinating or imagining the existence of a fruit as it was a subjective experience.

In its final submissions, the prosecution argued that the alleged victim had agreed internally and externally with the material facts and had no reason to lie. Sreekmal, however, had been alone with her and had every opportunity to assault the alleged victim, who was one of his youngest and only clients he had at the time.

According to the prosecution, the victim first went to the center on March 16, 2017 for a free trial hypnotherapy session. She signed up for five hypnotherapy sessions but only attended three in March and April 2017.

During the second session, Sreekamal presented the alleged victim with a “pleasure exercise”, where he got her to close her eyes while she stood and relax her body.

As part of the process, he shook hands with the alleged victim and asked her to think of a time when she felt pleasure. He told her to “increase” the feeling of pleasure by shaking her hand with increasing force.

At times, the accused asked the victim to lean against his chest with his eyes closed and he held her shoulders to support her weight. The accused also introduced a “recognition” exercise with her by asking her to recite a mantra to make her feel more positive in certain tasks.

Likewise, in the third session, Sreekamal performed “the exercise of pleasure” with her when he committed the offense, according to the prosecution.

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