The Dominion
February 18, 1994.
Family denies woman's abuse claims made on TV
by Alan Samson
The family of
a woman who made claims on television about satanic and other abuse at their
hands yesterday denied her every allegation and upbraded
TV3 for putting them in the spotlight.
Though the woman had changed her name - to Eunice Fairchild — her face and
voice were uncloaked and she spoke freely of abuse she said occurred in the
small
Yesterday her brother, John Saunders, calling all the allegations pure fantasy,
said he was seeking advice about what action could be taken against the
station.
Among a bizarre set of claims on the Inside New Zealand documentary, Satanic
Memories, the woman and her two sons described memories of torture, group sex,
animal torture and infanticide.
The woman said she had had many babies killed in satanic rituals. Her sons gave
equally extraordinary accounts, including one of forced fellatio by their
mother.
Among an array of people interviewed, Ritual Action Group worker Jocelyn
Frances, also known as O'Kane, said ritual abuse
occurred everywhere in New Zealand — except in the West Coast of the South Island,
but it happening there too was only a matter of time.
Mr Saunders said his sister's account was the product of a disturbed mind.
Their bank manager father had died of cancer in 1989 and their mother was suffering
so severely from Alzheimers disease that she could
not read, speak, watch television, walk or communicate at all.
He described to The Dominion a “normal upbringing, growing up happily
together" in Te Aroha.
But he said his sister had suffered from depression from her early 20s and had
become involved with a fundamental church. In 1992 she had had a traumatic
separation from her husband.
During her troubles, the brother said he had helped her with finding accommodation
and in getting counselling; it was after counselling she had discovered she had
been sexually abused. His sister had become "totally obsessed" with
the subject, researching it and exaggerating her original claims to include reference
to a satanic cult, which included the local minister and family doctor. She
said she had been raped by both of them.
"Te Aroha was, and still is, a little country
town," the brother said. "If there had been any such cult operating,
everyone would have known about it."
The difficulty was, apart from himself, all the
alleged perpetrators of abuse were either dead or incapable of defending
themselves.
He also said Ms Fairchild had taken her claims to newspapers and magazines, as
well as police and the Social Welfare Department.
At one stage, Social Welfare had called, his daughter
and her five-year-old son into the local welfare office, telling them of the
dangers of being abused by him.
"Maybe I should be angry but my whole reaction is open-mouthed amazement."
Skeptics spokesman Dennis Dutton yesterday called the
documentary "the most disreputable bit of television I've ever seen".
TV3's head of production, Geoff Steven, yesterday defended the programme,
saying it was "not current affairs but one woman's story".
Nor was it intended to comprise an investigation; if parts of it didn't hang
true, people could make up their own minds.
John O'Leary, the head of producers Word Pictures, also insisted the intention
had only been to present one person's story within a limited time frame.
"We very specifically avoided saying whether we agreed or disagreed with
her."
Asked about the effect of such accusations on accused people, he said: "I
can't comment on that."
Brother attends group
JOHN SAUNDERS on Sunday attended the first meeting of an
Led by sexual abuse specialist Felicity Goodyear-Smith,
author of the book First Do No Harm: The Sexual Abuse Industry, the group was
formed in response to many allegations believed to be false.
Dr Goodyear-Smith told The Dominion yesterday that sexual abuse had become
almost a national hysteria.
"Investigators and therapists have been taught that if a child shows some
disturbing behaviour, this is an indicator of abuse," she said.
"But this is not a child saying there has been abuse, but an adult
investigator.
"Because of this we are getting an increasing number of false cases. It's
a new form of child abuse."
Under therapy, a child came to believe they were abused, Dr Goodyear-Smith
said. And subsequently someone was accused, sometimes imprisoned or lost their
child.
"The problem is extrapolated," she said.
In the past few years, there had been a noticeable trend for women going to
therapists with signs of low esteem who were led to believe this meant likely
abuse.
"If you have been abused, you are likely to have had eating problems, but
they go the other way."
This led to the claim that forgotten memories had been blocked out, repressed.
"We might forget the odd things, but not really big things like murder or
ritual abuse," Dr Goodyear-Smith said.
In therapy, images brought out were very
real to the subject. Eunice Fairchild, for instance, clearly believed she had
been abused - but she had to have been supported by poor therapy.
The other bad thing happening was when confrontation was urged with the alleged
abuser, she said.
If they denied abusing anyone, it was clearly denial.
The response was to cut yourself off from them forever
- and often pursue criminal action.
The Listener
8.30, February 13, 1994
Inside New Zealand
Satanic Memories
Eunice Fairchild and her son Gregory both claim they have memories of being ritually
abused in Satan-worship ceremonies Eunice believes her mother was a cult priestess
and allowed Eunice to be tortured and sexually abused Gregory also believes he
was introduced to a Satanic cult as a young boy and has memories of similar
torturous abuse This programme examines the Fairchild's disturbing memories
(AO)92158 Producer/director JOHN O'LEARY WORLD PICTURES/NZ ON AIR