A young worshipper was 'coerced' into giving naked massages to the leader of a 'cult' church or face being 'ostracised', a court heard.
asserted
court → coerce → church
The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she was regularly summoned to Chris Brain's bedroom, where she would strip naked and have her breasts fondled.
asserted
breasts → identify → bedroom
He usually had an erection at the time, she said.
asserted
she → have → time
The woman said she was 'absolutely terrified' by having to massage Brain, whose distinctive Nine O'Clock Services in Sheffield during the 1980s and 1990s drew legions of young worshippers into the Church of England.
asserted
Services → say → England
Brain is accused of raping one woman and assaulting three others between 1983 and 1995, having already been convicted of a string of attacks on women at a trial last year.
asserted
Brain → accuse → trial
He denies all charges and said he did not touch the woman's breasts.
asserted
he → deny → breasts
Giving evidence from behind a screen, the woman told jurors at his retrial today: 'I don't feel I had the choice (to say no).
asserted
I → give → choice
'My brain was frozen, he (Brain) was telling me how to think, he used God to, I supposed, mess with my mind.
asserted
I → freeze → mind
Because everyone else around me was telling me how wonderful he was, he was the mouthpiece of God, what he was doing was in my best interests.
asserted
doing → tell → interests
The woman said Brain's 'controlling' behaviour led to her and her then husband being pressured into selling their family home and giving the proceeds to his church.
asserted
her → say → church
Chris Brain, former leader of the Nine O'Clock Service in Sheffield, is being tried for a serious of sexual offences in the 1980s and 1990s
She said she was also forced to hand over her wages into a 'common purse' to support Brain's work, from which she would receive a nominal amount.
She said Brain and his 'disciples' were incredibly strict about what she and other young women ate, what exercise they took, and the clothes they wore.
asserted
they → try → exercise
And she described how she was effectively shunned by Brain and members of his close circle on a group holiday because her baby daughter was wearing a hat Brain did not approve of.
asserted
Brain → describe → hat
During a video-recorded interview with police, played to jurors at Inner London Crown Court today, the woman described how she was 'troubled' by her experiences massaging Brain, but believed doing so would bring her closer to God.
asserted
doing → record → God
Asked by police if she wanted to massage Brain, she replied: 'Not really.'
asserted
she → ask → Brain
She said: 'I wanted to be involved and included and belong but I was a really inexperienced girl, I had no sexual experience at all.
asserted
I → say → experience
'I was always very naive, very scared of it, felt myself to be somewhat abnormal.
asserted
myself → feel → it
I was kind of relying on him (Brain) - he told me I was part of the problem - to put that right.
asserted
I → rely → that
He is on trial having previously being convicted of other offences last year
'
asserted
He → convict → offences
I wanted to be "right," I allowed it.
asserted
I → want → it
'You could argue that I wanted it.
uncertain
I → argue → it
Asked to reflect on her overriding experiences with Brain, she said: 'If I could turn the clock back and never have met the guy, I would want that.
uncertain
I → ask → that
'Because my response to what's happened to me, my experience being on the receiving end of a man like Chris Brain is I would never like it to happen to anybody.
asserted
it → happen → anybody
'I was treated appallingly.
asserted
I → treat → ?
It was only because I've got a very strong mind that I didn't buckle under, really.'
asserted
I → get → mind
The woman said she and her newlywed husband gave the full £8,000 from the sale of their home in the early 1980s to Brain's church and then began living with him in Sheffield.
asserted
she → say → Sheffield
The woman said they were then 'positively encouraged not to spend any time with our blood families'.
asserted
they → say → families
She said: 'Right from the beginning, the Church of God is your family and we were encouraged from the off not to have anything to do with our parents and siblings.
asserted
we → say → parents
'I completely distanced myself from family life.'
asserted
I → distance → life
But she said she was frequently 'ostracised' for minor things that in any way were seen to undermine Brain.
asserted
that → say → Brain
She said: 'You knew you were being punished - by displeasing Brain you were displeasing God, it basically meant you were a crap disciple, with no hope of salvation, and so you were holding everybody back.'
asserted
you → say → everybody
She said on one occasion in the 1990s she and her husband were invited on a luxury all-inclusive holiday to the Canary Islands with Brain's inner circle, but she was ignored for the entirety because Brain did not like what the woman's baby daughter was wearing.
asserted
daughter → say → what
The woman said: 'We hadn't taken off yet and a woman came up to me and said: "Chris wants to know why (the baby) is wearing that hat - why specifically that type and colour?"
asserted
baby → say → hat
'I couldn't genuinely apologise for that because it was so ridiculous.
asserted
it → apologise → that
'The long and short of it is that nobody talked to me for the rest of that holiday.
asserted
nobody → talk → holiday
'I was in big trouble because I had done the thing in the first place and was rubbish at repenting.
asserted
I → do → place
I was stuck in this place, miles away, in luxury on this complex, and nobody is talking to me.'
asserted
nobody → stick → me
She said this is when she decided she did not want to be part of the church any more, and left Brain's family home upon her return to the UK at the end of the holiday.
asserted
she → say → holiday
She told police: 'I wrote in my diary - I cannot get lower than this, there is no way out.
'
asserted
I → tell → this
So I decided to give up on my faith and that was the best thing I ever did.
asserted
I → decide → faith
People said why didn't you get a plane home?
asserted
you → say → plane
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
