Author Topic: Joao de Teixeira AKA John of God, Josie Tamarin AKA Josie Raven Wing  (Read 26805 times)

Offline educatedindian

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Re: Joao de Teixeira AKA John of God, Josie Tamarin AKA Josie Raven Wing
« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2018, 12:57:46 am »
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brazil-spiritual-healer-arrest-me-too_us_5c1bf90ee4b0407e9078b161
It began earlier this month, when Dutch choreographer Zahira Leeneke Maus dropped a bombshell allegation on Brazil’s Globo TV: She said celebrity Brazilian psychic João Teixeira de Faria had raped her.

Faria, who has appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and hosted “pilgrimages” around the world under his popular name, João de Deus, or John of God, denied the allegation. But Maus’ testimony inspired hundreds of other people to come forward with similar stories of abuse. Faria was arrested Sunday, just nine days after Maus went public with her accusation.

“I’m really relieved to know how many women came forward,” Maus told Brazilian news site G1. “I have a positive feeling, because it was the reason I decided to give an interview for the first time. It was to open the door for the first time to all the women and girls who suffer abuse to present themselves. And that’s what happened.”

A task force created to investigate Faria had received 506 reports of abuse as of Monday, HuffPost Brazil reports. In Brazil, the flood of allegations against Faria is being compared to the wave of allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who was first publicly accused of sex crimes last year.

The speed of the investigation, which led to Faria turning himself in to authorities, is an example of the collective power of women and the importance of reporting abuse, said Maira Pinheiro, a lawyer and member of the Feminist Jurist Network.

Maira Zapater, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Crime and Punishment in São Paulo, told HuffPost Brazil that the similarity in the allegations against Faria has been crucial. One of the main difficulties prosecutors face when investigating sex crimes is the lack of physical evidence and witnesses.

But 12 women have shared their stories publicly since Maus first spoke out, and their accounts have been too similar for skeptics to dismiss. They have described a pattern of abuse that began with them visiting Faria’s healing center in search of cures for personal problems. They said Faria invited them to a private consultation after an initial meeting, which is when the abuse, masked as “treatment,” began.

Maus described a similar scenario in her TV appearance. She said the “treatment” culminated in Faria raping her at his healing center four years ago.

She said she kept the allegation to herself because she was worried she’d be persecuted by Faria’s followers and because she believed “he was curing thousands of people.”

Apart from being relevant in the production of data, reporting is also relevant because it removes the victim from that position of, ‘I’m not sure what happened’ or ‘I must be crazy.’

....Faria, via his lawyers, has denied all allegations against him.

“It is important to say that the voices and the faces of the [accusers] were not shown,” Alberto Toron, a lawyer on Faria’s defense team, said in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha, referring to the fact that only Maus and businesswoman Aline Saleh have gone on the record publicly with their accusations.

“So you see, you cannot hear the voice nor see the face,” Toron said. “These things were said to have happened more than 10 years ago. Others more than four years ago. It is impossible to even remember if he knows the person.”

Faria withdrew nearly $9 million before surrendering to police, according to The Associated Press, and investigators found firearms and large quantities of cash in a house Faria used as a spiritual retreat.

He is currently in custody as the investigation continues.

Offline Sparks

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Re: João Teixeira de Faria. AKA John of God
« Reply #16 on: May 17, 2020, 10:59:35 pm »
So, what happened further along?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/20/brazil-spiritual-healer-known-john-god-jailed-19-years-raping/

https://www.smh.com.au/world/south-america/brazilian-spiritual-healer-john-of-god-jailed-for-rapes-20191220-p53lz3.html

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Teixeira_de_Faria:

Quote
João Teixeira de Faria (born June 24, 1942), known also as João de Deus (John of God), is a Brazilian purported medium , "psychic surgeon" and convicted sex offender.[1][2] He is based in Abadiânia, Brazil, where he runs the Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola, a "spiritual healing center". He has received media coverage on CNN, ABC news and the Oprah Winfrey show, amongst others. James Randi and Joe Nickell have exposed his healing procedures as involving nothing more than carnival tricks,[3][4] and there is no evidence that the benefits that have been reported by patients are anything more than placebo effects.[5]

In 2018, after over 600 accusations of sexual abuse, he turned himself in to police. In December 2019 he was sentenced to 19 years and four months for the rapes of four different women.[6] On January 20, 2020, Faria was senteced to an additional 40 years in prison for rape against 5 women.[7] This is the third conviction of the accused. The sentences add up to 63 years and 4 months.[8]
[…]
2018 sexual abuse allegations, arrest and 2019 guilty verdict and 19 year imprisonment sentence
Twelve women initially alleged that Faria abused them. The case was reported in media outlets in Brazil and around the world.[48][49] The number of claims led to the Prosecution Office of the State of Goiás creating an e-mail address and phone line to receive all accusations towards the medium. In 30 hours, more than 200 complaints were received, from 9 different states, including two claims from outside of Brazil.[50] Claims were reported by the prosecution's office as having potential to be the biggest sexual scandal in the history of Brazil, overwhelming the Roger Abdelmassih scandal.[51] Claims allege abuse of victims as young as 14 years old, as well as a woman that revealed having being abused for three days.[52] In December 11, four days after the "Conversa com Bial" show, the number of sexual abuse complaints against the medium had reached 206, in multiple Brazilian states, leading to Faria limiting his appointments at Casa Dom Inácio de Loyola. Questioned by reporters, the medium only said "I'm innocent" and walked away amid the protection of people around him.[53] On December 12, 2018, the public prosecutor of the Brazilian state of Goiás called for the arrest of Faria after allegations of sexual abuse.[54] On December 16, 2018, João de Deus surrendered himself to the police near the city of Abadiânia, in the state of Goiás, Brazil. The number of sexual abuse accusations has reached 600, and, as of May 2019, he was in a hospital after having been transferred there from prison in March 2019.[55] On December 19, 2019 he was sentenced to 19 years and four months for the rapes of four women.[6] He is facing additional cases related to 10 sex crimes.[56]

His own daughter, Dalva Teixeira, 49, stands among the accusers and called him a “monster” and alleged she was beaten and raped by the medium until she ran away when she was 14 years old.[57][58]




Offline Sparks

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Re: John of God, Josie Raven Wing
« Reply #17 on: May 20, 2020, 01:14:33 am »
The correct working url is now: http://johnofgod.com/about-john-of-god/

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Offline educatedindian

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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joao-teixeira-de-faria-john-of-god-rape_n_5c7ec996e4b06ff26ba30b19
I Found Healing With A Famed Spiritualist. Then He Was Arrested As A Sexual Predator.
I needed a good therapist and antidepressants. Instead, like many, I turned to spiritual healer John of God.

....Then, in December 2018, João Teixeira de Faria was arrested on charges of rape and statutory rape. Hundreds of allegations were brought against him by women and girls from all over the world, including his own daughter. Even more shockingly, he was accused of running a baby trafficking scheme, where young sex slaves bore children he sold to hopeful parents overseas. Allegedly, the “handmaids” were murdered after 10 years of service.

In another disturbing twist, activist Sabrina Bittencourt, whose work led to John of God’s arrest, ended her life by suicide in February. She had left Brazil after receiving death threats from his followers and was living under protection in Barcelona, Spain. She was the mother of three.

The guru I sought after getting date-raped was likely a rapist himself — and a madman. I had fallen for him, but I was in good company. Renowned spiritual teacher Wayne Dyer sang John of God’s praises. My idol Oprah Winfrey interviewed him in 2012 and said she felt humbled and filled with a sense of peace. My father and my uncle believed in him, too.

When people are sick, whether of body or soul, they will do anything to get better. It was devastating that a “miracle maker” took advantage of those most vulnerable. I’d been a cog in a machine that gave power to a monster. My beatific memories of healing were a farce. I felt lost, yearning to recalibrate.

I began the process of erasing John of God from my psyche and from my home. I trashed his magic triangle, which hung in my daughter’s nursery. A delicate rose quartz crystal went in the garbage as well....