The Novena "Exorcism" Case

[jw5]

Is anyone still interested in this case or heard anything about the family involved in this case?

I'm keen to find out the latest updates on this case or the developments in the family involved in this case. Can anyone throw some light? Anyone knows the family members personally? Any updates on the legal situation?

 

[Hakka Tiow]

I bet it's still all hissing about payment of legal fees. Oh well, all's in the family.

 

[Inahime]

The Electric New Paper :


Ex-national sportswoman claims exorcism forced on her. Priests give different account

SHE claimed she was given a forced exorcism.
By Crystal Chan
24 October 2007

SHE claimed she was given a forced exorcism.

The church said it was just a prayer session.

The trial is due to begin tomorrow in the High Court - three years after the alleged incident.

Madam Amutha Valli, 50, is accusing the Novena Church, two of its priests and seven of its helpers of 'exorcising her' against her will.

The former national walker is asking the High Court to award her compensation for loss of earnings and future medical expenses.

She also said that because of the trauma she suffered, she had to stop giving private tuition. The incident has also left her depressed and she is in need of 24-hour care.

Madam Amutha is leaving it to the High Court to assess the damages, which would be at least $250,000 if she wins. Suits involving at least $250,000 are heard in the High Court.

SAVINGS WIPED OUT

She claimed her medical expenses, amounting to more than $70,000, have wiped out most of her family's savings. This included hiring a maid to look after her.

The trial has been set for three weeks before Justice Lee Seiu Kin.

This is believed to be the first time an exorcism is the subject of a lawsuit here.

Madam Amutha said that on 10 Aug, 2004, she, her son, daughter and a male family friend went to the church at Thomson Road as her son, Mr Jairajkumar Jeyabal, then 27, wanted to pray there.

She claimed that she fainted there, and that Father Simon Tan and Father Jacob Ong took her to a room to rest while her family waited outside.

It is alleged that Father Tan came out of the room and told her family that she was possessed by a spirit and would need to be exorcised.

Both Father Tan and Father Ong are said to have gathered seven other church helpers to assist in the 'exorcism'.

The 'exorcism' lasted about 2 1/2 hours, and Madam Amutha supposedly protested against it.

She claimed she was pinned to the floor by five of the helpers while the two priests stood in front of her and two other helpers recited the Bible.

She also alleged that when she insisted on going to the toilet, Father Tan prevented her from closing the door, resulting in her having to relieve herself under his watch.

Madam Amutha also accused the church helpers, who allegedly held her down, of verbally abusing her and threatening to 'break her head'.

She and her family claimed that the church members told them to leave the place after they demanded to call the police and for an ambulance.

However, the church, the priests and the seven helpers gave a different account.

In his defence, Father Tan said that the actual event was not an exorcism, but a prayer session that had been requested by her and her family.

He denied locking her up against her will, outraging her modesty, or injuring her during the prayer session.

Father Tan claimed it was Madam Amutha who hurled vulgarities at the worshippers and at her own family as well.

He said Madam Amutha was 'violently shaking the grilles leading to the prayer hall', and that her daughter told him then that her mother was 'possessed and suicidal'.

ABUSIVE

He also said that the family was asked to leave the church when Madam Amutha continued to be abusive.

Father Ong's account is similar to Father Tan's, except for one other thing - he claimed Madam Amutha was also creeping on all fours in the church.

He said a man, who claimed to be Madam Amutha's brother, told him she was possessed by a dead soldier's spirit.

Following this, the brother ordered Madam Amutha: 'Soldier, stand up' and 'Soldier, march'.

Madam Amutha then obeyed the 'commands' and started marching.

She then returned to creeping on all fours.

Her family made a police report, but no criminal charges were filed against the defendants.

A report by psychiatrist Angelina Chan of Changi General Hospital stated that Madam Amutha's symptoms are a 'direct result of the traumatic incident that she experienced at the church'.

LAW FIRM REJECTED CASE

The suit was not without its hiccups.

Madam Amutha's family first approached well-known criminal lawyer Mr Subhas Anandan.

But Mr Anandan's then employer, Harry Elias Partnership, told him to reject the case as the law firm has a policy of not acting against a place of worship.

Mr R.S. Bajwa of Bajwa & Co is now representing Madam Amutha.

Novena Church and Father Tan is represented by Mr Tito Isaac and Mr P Padman of Tito Isaac & Co, while Father Ong is represented by Senior Counsel Jimmy Yim and MrDarrell Low of Drew & Napier, as well as Mr Cosmas Gomez of Cosmas & Co.

 

[Inahime]

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</td> </tr> <tr><td class="content_subtitle" align="left"> Tue, Feb 17, 2009
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Novena exorcism case helped by detectives shadowing plaintiff <!-- TITLE : end--> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" height="15">

</td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="3" class="bodytext"> <!-- CONTENT : start --> By Santokh Singh

UP TO 1,000 hours of video footage collected.

Nine months of private detective work from a team of five investigators who even disguised themselves as foreign workers and pregnant women. Numerous types of equipment, including closed-circuit cameras, long-distance video cameras and motion detectors, used. The cost of the whole exercise - a five-figure sum.

But the private investigation firm of SecureGuard Security Services Co-operative Limited delivered the goods. The detective work helped the case of its clients, the Novena church, in its defence against plaintiff Madam Amutha Valli Krishnan, in the now infamous 'exorcism' trial. The much-publicised civil suit between Madam Amutha, 53, and the church finally came to an end on Friday when Justice Lee Seiu Kin delivered his judgment. The case had dragged on for more than four years. It stemmed from her allegation that two priests at the church, Father Jacob Ong and Father Simon Tan, and several churchgoers had performed an exorcism on her against her will for more than 21/2 hours on 10 Aug 2004. Part of the plaintiff's claim was that she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of her experience in the church.

It not only affected her mentally but physically as well. She claimed that she was not able to live a normal life. This included having difficulties going to the toilet alone, at times not having confidence to be independent, and needing assistance all the time. She also had to make numerous visits to the hospital to be treated for her condition, which was worsening, she claimed. But as Justice Lee observed in his written judgement: 'In contrast to the rather dire picture of the plaintiff... the defendants produced video evidence, taken by private investigators, of the plaintiff going about her domestic activities, going out to the temple dressed in brightly coloured dresses and even working out on the treadmill and various other exercise machines in the gym.'

Producing this video evidence was the challenge for the team from SecureGuard, led by chief investigator Gilbert De Silva, 48. The former police officer turned marine investigator and consultant for private investigations played a key part in collecting the evidence. It was the longest surveillance project he had ever engaged in. There was a time at the start of the investigations when he stayed at his post, with his operatives changing duty, for three straight days and nights. He said: 'It was 72 hours long but it was crucial at that point in time that we had the right person. 'We were still in the process of establishing her identity and I wanted to be there for confirmation.'

Suffering?
That was challenge number one - getting the right person. The breakthrough came when they spotted Madam Amutha with her 'sworn brother' Resham Singh. 'We knew about Resham Singh and seeing the two of them together confirmed it, and the case was on,' said Mr De Silva. The next challenge was to determine whether she was indeed suffering physically - that she needed help all the time. The first breakthrough came when the surveillance managed footage of her washing and hanging out her clothes without any assistance from 29 to 31 Dec 2006. She also dressed up and went to the Dharma Muneeswaran Temple in Serangoon North from about 4pm to 8pm. 'She was perfectly normal, even going down on her knees to pray,' said the investigator. And if 72 hours was his longest stint at getting the evidence, it took him only 30 minutes to establish the fact that she could exercise without a walking stick.

'It happened by chance. I was taking my wife to her school in Ang Mo Kio when I spotted Madam Amutha at Bishan Park. 'I handed the car over to my wife, took out my video cam and followed her. It was all over in 30 minutes but it showed that she could walk properly,' he said. Then there was the time she was caught on tape at the gymnasium in Yio Chu Kang Sports Hall. 'She was lifting weights and running on a treadmill,' said Mr De Silva. 'But what was interesting was that she was doing it all on her own, and in a place with strangers. When she was on the treadmill, there was a man exercising next to her and she displayed no fear.' While getting this footage proved to be crucial, it was also the start of a difficult period. 'My cameraman held the shot for one second too long and she noticed us,' he said. Madam Amutha then became more difficult to track as she took different routes to get out of her third storey flat in Ang Mo Kio.

She would at times walk down the stairs, or go up to fifth storey common corridor and then take either of two lifts located there. 'We missed her on a couple of occasions because she took the lift at the end of the block rather than the one near her flat,' he said. 'Both she and Resham were suspicious. They would look around and changed their routes and modes of transport. At times they would travel by car and then get off and move on foot, and that made it challenging for us.' For lawyer Tito Isaac, who represented the church and Father Simon, this project commissioned by his firm was also one of the longest surveillance projects he knows of. 'But Gilbert's team from SecureGuard came through with flying colours. All kudos to them for the work done,' he said. 'The evidence was there for all to see.'


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[Hakka Tiow]

nothing else to discuss?

have to talk about history now?

Out of boredom. You see we are all holding our breathe awaiting your next thought provoking thread!

 

[nickers9]

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Novena exorcism case helped by detectives shadowing plaintiff <!-- TITLE : end--> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" height="15">

</td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="3" class="bodytext"> <!-- CONTENT : start --> By Santokh Singh


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Bloody Shit!!!

As I remembered a thread here a couple of months ago talking about a black cobra and an Indian, who would you kill first if you had a gun?

I think the answer is obvious now.

 

[Watchman]

I drank Adrian Lim's blood: Madam Valli's medical case notes
Wed, Oct 24, 2007
The Straits Times

<--- http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20071024-32024.html

She was an alcoholic, took drugs and had been suffering from a whole host of psychiatric problems since 1989.

But Madam Amutha Valli, 50, kept mum about her medical history, and had even implored her past doctors not to reveal the truth, the High Court was told on Wednesday, at the start of the hearing into the exorcism rites she had alleged were forced on her by priests of Novena Church three years ago.

In their opening statements, defence lawyers for the two priests and seven other defendants who are being sued by Madam Valli, presented hospital records of National University Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Institute of Mental Health where she had been receiving treatment for her mental disorders.

Senior Counsel Jimmy Yim from Drew & Napier, who is defending Father Jacob Ong, with Mr Darrell Low, told the court that Madam Valli was found to be in a "dissociative state" as far back as December 1986.

Dissociative trance disorder, to a lay person, clergyman or priest, is a state akin to possession.

Madam Valli was diagnosed as suffering from "hysterical dissociative neurosis" in January 1987, according to her medicals records kept by NUH, which treated her from 1986 to 1989.

The NUH case notes also detailed her history of entering into trances, including one where she had glided on the floor like a snake.

Excerpts of the case notes were presented in court on Wednesday:

One of them, dated Dec 26, 1986, states:

- "glides on floor, hissing like a snake

- last 1-3 minutes

- slumps onto ground and regain normal consciousness. unable to recall events during trance."

Another, dated Jan 6, 1987, said she went to see notorious medium Adrian Lim sometime in 1984 to get a cure for her trances.

Lim, 41, his wife Tan Mui Choo, 28, and mistress Hoe Kah Hong, 27, murdered two schoolchildren, aged nine and 10, in early 1981. All three were hanged in 1988.

Excerpts of the case notes said she saw Lim twice and drank his blood and went into a trance together with him. She added that Lim gave her shock treatment by electrocution.

She stopped seeing after she found out about the murders he had committed from newspaper reports. She felt "guilty and embarrassed," she told the NUH doctors.

A Jan 21, 1987 case note gave a glimpse into her personal history.

The excerpts read:

- "started going into trances for religious purposes at age 12.

- Trances at religious ceremonies at home - encouraged by mother, family and neighbour.

- Becomes incarnation of snake god and predicts and foretells fortune, past, present."

The court also heard that she told her doctor at Flame Tree Clinic on Oct 21, 2005, which she had asked for a medical report on her mental state, not to mention any of her family problems, alcoholism and depression.

Her doctor, apparently told her that suppression of information would not be right as it would be "a great omission of the truth".

On Nov 10, 2006, Madam Valli, in a sworn statement, insisted that the only psychiatric condition which she had suffered from was stress and alcohol dependency and she had been hospitalised at the IMH. Yet, in IHM's case notes dated Oct 30, 2006, she called an IMH doctor and told him that she "never had treatment at NUH before."

Madam Valli was also seen by psychhiatrists, Prof Ong Thiew Chai of Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Dr Angelina Chan of Changi General Hospital in on Sept 3 and April 15, 2005 respectively, but their medical reports of her condition make no mention her psychiatric history prior to the Aug 10, 2004 incident at Novena Church.

It was later revealed that she did not bring her past history in NUH to their attention.

"It is submitted that all these omissions of past medical/psychiatric history deprived both Prof Ong and Dr Chan from arriving at a true and complete evaluation of the plaintiff's actual psychiatric condition," said Mr Yim.

 

[Watchman]

 

[Watchman]

 

[silliporean]

Holy Shit!

This Adrian Lim murder was the biggest murder case after the Sunny Ang murder...and you still have the newspaper cuttings!!! Woo Hoo...

 

[KNNBCCB]

Piang eh... where you dig out this piece of holy shit !!!

 

[Lee5604]

In short, this Mdm Amutha Valli is EVIL.

Tried to fleece the Catholic Church (Novena Church) for money.

No body can fight God. Many think they can, but they are so wrong ,,,

She has to answer to God for all her actions.

 

[Watchman]

+

Madam Valli was diagnosed as suffering from "hysterical dissociative neurosis" in January 1987, according to her medicals records kept by NUH, which treated her from 1986 to 1989.

The NUH case notes also detailed her history of entering into trances, including one where she had glided on the floor like a snake.

+

Another, dated Jan 6, 1987, said she went to see notorious medium Adrian Lim sometime in 1984 to get a cure for her trances.
Lim, 41, his wife Tan Mui Choo, 28, and mistress Hoe Kah Hong, 27, murdered two schoolchildren, aged nine and 10, in early 1981. All three were hanged in 1988.
Excerpts of the case notes said she saw Lim twice and drank his blood and went into a trance together with him. She added that Lim gave her shock treatment by electrocution.

Some of the detailed medical history .

 

[silliporean]

Is anyone still interested in this case or heard anything about the family involved in this case?

I'm keen to find out the latest updates on this case or the developments in the family involved in this case. Can anyone throw some light? Anyone knows the family members personally? Any updates on the legal situation?

First things first, I am not questioning god or the Catholic religion, i have deep respect for them both..

In this very case, woman claims that the priest performed exorcism on her but the priest claimed otherwise, saying that he only prayed for her..

My question is, why does he need to keep his prayer sessions away from the family?? This is NOT an accusation nor a suggestion that the Catholic priest had lied, but I am just asking WHY?

 

[ps07857]

Amazing posts of the original ST clippings. Kudos to you~

 

[Watchman]

Amazing posts of the original ST clippings. Kudos to you~

One more

Sumiko Tan (1980)

Sumiko Tan is Sunday Times Editor and Supervising Editor of Digital Life, Mind Your Body and Urban for The Straits Times, a Singapore-based broadsheet newspaper. She is also a well-known columnist for The Sunday Times - the Sunday edition of The Straits Times. Her father is Chinese Teochew and her mother is Japanese. She completed her GCE 'A'-Level education at Anglo-Chinese Junior College in 1981, after which she completed her undergraduate education at the National University of Singapore.

 

[eat_n_die]

Amazing posts of the original ST clippings. More pls!

 

[ps07857]

honestly speaking, how do you find these newspaper clippings? at the microfilm in the library?

 

[Watchman]

honestly speaking, how do you find these newspaper clippings? at the microfilm in the library?

Jessss ..... You can Google over the internet .

Microfilms in library is so yesterday .

Google is today and someday beyond .

 

[SleepWithSnake]

Updated: 10/01/2013 14:05 | By Channel NewsAsia

Daughter of woman in Novena Church exorcism case back in court

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SINGAPORE: The woman who sued Novena Church six years ago for allegedly causing her psychological trauma through an alleged exorcism is now involved in another case -- this time, Mdm Amutha Valli Krishnan's daughter is accused of threatening her with a knife.

28-year-old Subashini Jeyabal was charged in July with criminal intimidation for placing the knife to her mother's neck. She allegedly threatened 57-year-old Mdm Amutha Valli in late June 2013 at their Ang Mo Kio flat.

Court documents stated that the accused had apparently said she would kill Mdm Amutha Valli and cut her.

Subashini also faces two other charges of causing hurt. She allegedly kicked her mother and slapped her father, Mr Suppiah Jeyabal, on the same day in June as well.

Subashni's lawyer, Louis Joseph, on Tuesday made representations to the court, saying the alleged incident did not happen as Mdm Amutha Valli is delusional. The case will be mentioned again on October 16.

Mdm Amutha Valli had claimed that the failed exorcism happened in 2004 at Novena Church and sought damages from it as well as the priests and volunteers. After a trial spanning two years, the High Court dismissed her case in 2009, saying the defendants' and Mdm Amutha Valli's evidence were bizarre. - CNA/ac