INVESTIGATION: 'Circus family' falsely accused of abuse and thrown in jail | 60 Minutes Australia

Good evening and welcome to a special edition of 60

minutes

. I'm Tara Brown. Everyone makes mistakes, even police trying to solve major crimes, but the inexplicable failures of the criminal

investigation

you're about to see can't be so easily dismissed in this case. The consequences were catastrophic for an upstanding, community-minded

family

in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. They ran a much-loved

circus

school but ended up in prison after being charged with 127 counts of monstrous child sexual

abuse

. The only problem was there was not a shred of credible evidence to back up the allegations that they have now destroyed the lives of innocent people.

You would think the NSW Police would be big enough to apologize for their incompetence. They are not

accused

of a total of 127 crimes that relate to the alleged suspect. Ongoing sexual and physical

abuse

of young children among exposed A real life horror film 100 sexual attacks on children A large

family

of

circus

monsters preying on young children in a mountain neighborhood in the Blue Mountains is a house of horrors from Australia The headlines say it all except that none of it was true, they were sexual crimes against children, they were abhorrent, they were violent, but they are false, they pleaded not guilty at all and were

falsely

accused

, in a way that I almost feel like I would prefer they They would accuse me of murder and put me in

jail

because people said. 25 years of life and I had never felt a dread like that before in my life and I was so afraid of being abused, assaulted, vilified, I just said, they are going to rape you here, they are going to beat you, you just told me. you are an animal you are just an animal you are and belong in a cage a family torn apart by accusations too ridiculous to believe except for the police family is the collateral damage you know the collateral damage of a witch hunt is strong for me The children and I never We thought they would have to take care of me when it was all over.

Sorry, this nondescript share on an industrial estate in Kitumba was painted as the epicenter of evil, but for Therese Cook and her family, this was always meant to be a place of Magic, it represented a lot of past happiness, a lot of joy and for me, my family, it was a place where we spent time and had a lot of fun. It was also a performance and teaching space where the local community, including disabled children, learned circus. tricks and self-confidence we did it maybe it's been two long years since Teresa and her brother Paul the circus rookie of the family got together Teresa's daughters Jani and Clarissa and her relatives Lachlan and Lucy this is not just a catching up with family, but it's a way to celebrate your freedom.

These are the people you meet in the community selling cakes. These are the people you call if you know you have a flat tire. These are the type of people who were accused of these acts and yet were subject to the most egregious accusations of child sexual abuse made by an estranged relative and her husband, parents of young children and members of an extreme religious sect, left that the blood would drip into a container and then they would make me drink it. Criminal attorney Brian Wrench could never believe that the allegations against Terese and her quiet, community-minded family were taken seriously to cause this type of abuse.

What kind of person would you have to be? You'd have to be a complete psychopath to do that. I hope we don't have more children because this world is a cesspool of hate, lies and violence. The ultra-religious parents claim that their young children, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had been sexually abused and tortured by Therese and her family, as the mother recorded in her diary of the type of rape and torture that was occurring, he He would get very angry for a moment and not want to talk about it, but then he would do it at that moment.

Did you realize that these accusations were coming from the family? No, no, um, I didn't know they came from my family. On Friday, September 1, 2017, their lives are about to change irreversibly on their property on the outskirts of town. Paul and Teresa's houses are next to each other at the top of their long driveway. A small army of New South Wales police, including the heavily armed riot squad, move silently and in sync. They surround both houses and then all hell breaks loose. A bang was heard and just one by one they just came through the door screaming police police clearly remember the footsteps running up the stairs raise your hands, get on the floor and they dragged me out of the bed I sent myself naked I went towards them with my hands on tall middle away confused the police stay there they grabbed me and threw me to the ground and pinned me down and told me if I moved they would shoot me for the family it's a terrifying home invasion without warning without explanation the riot squad is there to overcome and subdue by any means necessary they pushed me quite forcefully to the ground with a foot or a knee they advised me that if I moved I would be considered a threat and they would deal with me they stripped me naked and kept me saying you know why we are here you know why are we here, I had no idea the police then heard the shocked family together so they could search the house for electronic devices and hard drives.

I remember looking over and seeing Lockheed and his eyes, I was absolutely terrified but I was shaking I was terrified Clarissa was just shaking and terrified and I was trying to assess what was happening I had no idea I didn't know what was going on in the middle of the nightmare raid detectives produce a crime scene search warrant that lists a series of horrific accusations detectives who said it was a child sex crime what was your reaction to those words that it is a crime child sex? I thought they had made a mistake where they are in the wrong place I thought they had gotten their dresses I didn't know just because I knew we hadn't done anything sexual relations with a child under 10 kidnapping assault and producing child abuse material there is an aggravated indecent assault of 61m2 for the family the accusations are so shocking, so far from reality, they must be a mistake, I still had no idea what it was for until the officer in charge, the detective sergeant, came in and read us the crime scene order and I was just her reading it, I got angry. assault produced child abuse material crimes that I will take before.

I certainly know that this hasn't happened to you, you know, as you read it, despite the heavy-handed police raid to execute their search warrant, no one was arrested, so at that moment I thought, well, this is all going to go away. , yes, now, yes, it's ridiculous, ridiculous, what was it like to live under surveillance, like they were chasing you, how long will it take for them to receive this message? Can we start seeing each other again? Police. tactics will be fine the police wouldn't stoop to this level that defies belief i wasn't there to date you no, i was wired and who is making up all this stuff this can't be real that's next in 60

minutes

his property has been broken into and For the next five months the Cook family is under surveillance, their homes bugged as police investigate allegations of monstrous child sexual abuse.

No one is arrested, but for the family it is a terrible waiting game. What was it like to live feeling like you? You are under scrutiny under surveillance as if you are being persecuted. It was very, very scary when the police interviewed the people closest to Therese. She texted a relative in her extended family to let him know what had happened. The text message she received exposed the source of the accusations that the same relative and her husband were members of an extreme religious sect that were about to tear apart her tight-knit family. The person she contacted to say yes and say the police could come was in fact the person who made the accusations against her. police, yeah, what was it like learning that?

I said this can't be real since her bond was close, but now this relative claimed that her young children had been repeatedly sexually and physically abused when they visited Therese and her family, had a hammer taken and They beat them. Penis with hammer accusations that he recorded in her diary as revealed to him by her children. She said he hit her neck with a stick and then shoved a piece of the stick down her throat. It was devastating because it involved even the youngest members of Teresa's family. The accusations were made not only against you trees, but also against members of her close family.

Did you ever consider that any part of those accusations might be true? No, I knew none of us had hurt the children. Did he mention it at all? Yes, of course I did, it's a difficult question to ask, isn't it? Oh, that's a terrible question and what was it like to be asked that kind of thing. It was difficult because I was afraid that everyone would just believe it and I was afraid of It and yes, I felt very alone as Lockheed, who was only 17 at the time and the first to be accused by one of the children of sexual assault to know where the accusation was coming from and what kind of impact that had on you.

I guess it hurt me because I knew you'd known the kids' mother all my life and I didn't think he would think that about all of us, it just was, I guess it was pretty deep, yeah, also a teenager at the time Lucy She was bewildered by the accusation made against her. What were the specific charges made against you? I guess my biggest charge was kidnapping. They said he had kidnapped some children. I was so confused by that. Sorry, I'm not. I just don't know how to do it. say it with um teresa yani's daughter was accused of forcing young children to have sexual relations with each other they alleged that i had sexually assaulted the children and incited them to assault each other repeatedly interviewed by the police the children made accusations against terese and her family who were really horrible, too terrible to repeat, she carried with her a rope to tie us up and a needle to prick us with extreme sexual assault, yawning with hammered sticks around me, what was Clarissa doing while this was happening, holding me down, torture and blood rituals.

I let the blood drip into a container and then they made me drink it and the worst thing had been filmed by Teresa's brother and Paul's neighbor. There was a person called Paul and he took the photographs. They took videos and photographs. The accusation that I supposedly filmed was when the trees bit the penis of one of the little boys and lifted him off the ground while he bit his penis. The legend that it was always alleged that I also filmed that, which is totally and absolutely implausible in particular. act right without causing horrible harm that's impossible, that's right, how could the police believe that there was expert evidence from their expert who described that incident as implausible and an expert described the incident as impossible and they decided to ignore it?

Criminal defense attorney Brian Wrench represented the family, well, those were the words of young children, the police have a duty to investigate, don't they, but it's a duty that comes with enormous power, it was almost a deliberate, uh , deliberately ignoring the available evidence shown to our clients. did not do this despite the implausibility of some of the allegations, the police put all their effort into investigating the cooks and in doing so resorted to some very dirty tactics, they recruited a junior police officer who had recently had a relationship Intimate with Teresa's daughter, Clarissa, he was to pretend he wanted to rekindle it, he invited her on a date, where are we going to that state place?

Ah, but not before being informed and telegraphed by the New South Wales sexual crimes squad. This order authorizes the police to record any private conversations you may have. With Clarissa I think it had been a month or so without any contact between him and I um and then out of nowhere I get this text can we start seeing each other again? And so we did it, we met up, we did it, we hugged and kissed and everything caught on police wire, Clarissa believed she was on a genuine date and I just thought it would be okay, you know, the police wouldn't stoop to this level. to get a police officer who used to hang out with me to question me, that wouldn't be it.

There was no way it was going to happen, but as the night progressed, as planned by the police, he began questioning her about accusations one would assume expecting a confession. Instead, Clarissa confided that she had been

falsely

accused. Never happened. It's a complete lie, I swear. God, it's a lie, it's a vivisection, you know, this was a cut, our whole life was exposed to the police courts and for what, in vain, when she didn't do this, what's going on, Clarissa? I liked and trusted him. just an added layer of betrayal because he wasn't there to date you were him no, it was telegraphed all night it was telegraphed this case goes that far that's a good question arrested one of the officers said thatYou are an animal to which you belong a cage and in prison you are going to be right you are going to be fast a good family what was that first night?

I remember crying myself to sleep facing a life in hell I was in prison for 25 to life and that's what's next on 60 Minutes For six months, Therese Cook and her family knew they were in the police crosshairs accused ​​by a relative of sexually abusing her young children, but the family was sure that the police

investigation

would exonerate them and Irma told Teresa, I told her I wouldn't do it. I would be so worried, I wouldn't be worried that the police will just conduct an investigation, they will conduct a thorough investigation and just determine that this is just nonsense, absolute nonsense, fanciful behavior, crazy, but on the morning of the 5th february 2018 police beat all seven were arrested at homes in kitumba arresting paul and terese at their kitumba property all remain in custody along with youths lockheed and clarissa i remember a detective said something like you have been accused of children under 11 years old. and I said we're innocent and one of the detectives said we have to believe the kids and I just said we're innocent I think I kept saying we're innocent the subsequent arrests net lucy and yani who lived together in sydney I just never expected That they thought they would be home that night after being interrogated, never dreaming that this would be the first day of months behind bars, I think I would have broken down if anyone had done that.

The day of the arrest he told me that he was going to be in prison for almost seven months. You were in a cell with Lockheed and you were talking to him assuring him that everything would be okay and everyone would be home, so what was your reaction when they were sent to

jail

? um I think shocked is probably the term I would use, completely natural, shocked, arrested, the family would be split up into several jails that first day in the back of a Paddy Wagon Paul tried to comfort young Lockheed before they were separated. Now I know we were both traveling down the back of the Paddy Wagon sliding down the back of the Paddy Wagon.

I couldn't help him. I couldn't support it. Know? I just looked him in the eyes and told him he would be fine, he would be fine, did you think he would be? I didn't know what to believe, I didn't know what he was walking towards Tara, what was that first night like? Um, scary, I guess so, I remember crying myself to sleep in the cell. Um, yes, it was overwhelming and yes, terrifying. I had not felt fear like this before in my life and I was very afraid that in the following months the family would repeat itself.

They were denied bail and were now trapped in a brutal and terrifying system. Well, what did the police tell you about the charges and what could you expect if you were convicted? Well, when I was arrested they just told me that I would be in prison for 25 to 30 years. life they told me that when we were transferred to Silver Water they separated us and put me in isolation for three weeks and the lights were on full blast 24/7. You couldn't sleep, it was very cold and you can hear the boys talking. about you they insult you and threaten you what they told you they only said that they are going to rape you here you are going to be bad what was it you feared the most that they were going to imprison me for the rest of my life the police say that all the victims who were under arrest story exploded across the country with over a hundred charges missing his circus life became a horror show an alleged child sex ring horrible headlines horrible headlines shocking child discovered alleged shooting boss has been arrested sexual and physical paths through from sydney canterbury coutumba behind bars with nowhere to run or hide the threats to the Cook family were immediate I was in an empty yard as it was far from the other cells and one of the officers told me: you are an animal you are just a you are an animal and you belong in a cage and that is where I will take you now go in there and this is the sound I love the closing of the Lockheed door it was other inmates who attacked him they just yelled at me, called me a rapist and threatened me with rape me, yes, there was a lot of harassment and intimidation.

What happened there, they attacked me once, the second time someone tried to attack me, but they were unsuccessful, you fought. back, yeah, I just defended myself, I just blocked his punch, so I was scared. I was killed. He was scared out of his wits. The longer you were there to pose, the more and more you became worried about being convicted on these charges. Now I just still have faith that the truth would come out. I had to believe that and I kept holding on to that. How did this case get so far? That is a good question.

I felt that it was almost a persecution at all costs while the family languished in prison already convicted. in the court of public opinion his lawyer brian wrench struggled with the police report of evidence was how many pages was that report thousands thousands but it turned up nothing zero there was no evidence that said our clients were guilty the absence of evidence is evidence there was simply no nothing there they are accused of filming to produce child pornography material or there is evidence of that or not children playing in a park alone today fun and laughter the video the police said it proved that there is no evidence that monstrous abuse occurred no I understood how they could believe they had just gone through this really horrible experience that follows on 60 Minutes.

The NSW Police case against the Cook family was based entirely on accusations made by Teresa's relative's young children, such as when she wants to hurt us. They carried a rope to tie us up and a needle to prick us with. The children whose parents belong to a marginal religious sect were interviewed 27 times by the police over the course of three years and who did that. That was Satan. What does Satan look like? as if she had a black top, black topia and green pants from the beginning, the accusations were hard to believe, as attorney Brian Wrench points out that the police had no physical evidence or signs of injuries or DNA, all they had was the word of the children, who was faltering. and contradictory, someone drew all my blood sometimes, even the police seemed to doubt their accounts, so they would bite your tongue when you were next to mom, yes, they were so fast like that, they were so fast that mom didn't.

I even noticed how often that happened, that would happen almost every day, like I would say twice a day. I think you can remember this or you're just making it up as you go. No, I remember when you read the 27 interviews. It clearly got worse and worse and it was almost as if the children had to carry this lie throughout the investigation, but during their numerous interviews with the police, the young children also revealed disturbing details of how their mother got them to open up about the called abuse. Mom made me tell it as if I was staying in my room until she told it, and in her own diaries the mother accepts increasingly wild claims and seems determined to have even more revealed, saying that she pricked my eyelid with a needle and hung me from a branch from my top I know the story is not over yet you both have more to tell me some of this is so fantastic um and for any accusation to be made my relative kept his son in a room for two hours saying who hurt you, who to hurt you its like she goes to each of the kids and they like to force them to tell her things and not leave them alone until they have told her something that someone did to them they would like to hurt me somewhere and they would let the blood drip. in a bowl and then they made me drink it the question is why were very young children making up, you know, these really horrible accusations, there were some curious features in this case that raised a lot of questions, why was it when the complainants brought up issues about courts of blood aspects of sacrifice that at the same time they were being taught this in a religion study but there was no investigation of this and these are some of the questions we want to answer the abuse described by the children would later be pronounced by a court judge supreme as something strange, implausible and in some cases physically impossible, but despite that, the police pursued Therese and her family with seemingly determined certainty, you and your mother pushed him to the ground to lie face down and they removed his pants in this police file of interview with yani a litany of grotesque accusations are made against him it has been alleged that you then put your fingers in his anus but yani being in that police station and being asked those types of questions um so you can give me the accusation and I just shake my head or some things, um, I ended up sitting there saying no for like an hour, when you look at how yani was treated during that police interview, I mean, that's something she should expect as a suspect in a case like this , well no, not at all, you don't know that she was a decent person who came to the table and then was treated like a criminal before she had had time to respond to the accusations, what kind of long term impact would you have?

I hope I get that in yani, I mean, you know, you know, from what I've seen over 18 months, the children's accusations against the family grew and became particularly confusing for Paul, who says his contact with them was minimum, how long and how. How much did you have to do with these children? This is very distressing because I didn't see these children on a Christmas afternoon in 2015. The parents were there and I ate with them again, maybe I was there for an hour again mom was there, that's it, that's it, those two occasions, that's what I can remember, yes, as a very limited time in their dawn raid on Paul and Teresa's houses the year before in 2017, the police had taken the hard drives from the computers and mobile phones, as the boys said Paul had videotaped them being sexually abused.

There was a person called Paul and he took the photographs. They would typically take videos and photographs to produce child pornography material. They are bleeding. It was that claim of video evidence. That sealed the family's guilt in the eyes of the public, except there was no evidence. Being accused of videotaping or filming children is a fairly easy charge to prove or disprove. There is no evidence of that or not? Is there any evidence? that the children were filmed no, there was no footage, there is no evidence that that happened, I think it was at my bail hearing where the prosecutor stood up and said yes, no, we haven't found anything yet, but it's He may have simply hung up the phone. and finally pretended to film this is what the police pointed to as video evidence that the children had been sexually abused, but it shows the children at the center of the accusations having fun with Terese and Yani recording with Yani's phone images that Yani happily gave it to the police. fun, it was just a day of fun and laughter and I thought it was a lovely day, like it was a holiday in a very public place.

I had one of these at home when I was a kid and Therese and Janie were babysitting. You're a little older, the police used these videos to claim that that day Yani had forced the children to perform sexual acts on each other even though there was no footage to capture that allegation. Okay, that means you'll have to film. I don't. understand how they could watch those videos and see the children so happy and just normal and believe that they are just going through these really horrible experiences, it wasn't until the family was accused and imprisoned that the mother of her young accusers revealed a shocking truth that she had hid from the police one of her sons had told her that he had been lying all along tonight, she suddenly came up to me and said mom, I'm so sorry, I've been lying about the whole thing, no one got hurt.

I've been lying to you. Can you explain to me why it's not in the notes for the police? I brought it up because I thought I didn't want anyone to ask if I was telling the truth about everything I assume the mother said. that after intense prayer and reassurance her son changed her story to what she describes as the truth anyway, she finally told me the truth again after about two hours of reading reassuring scriptures from the Bible and hugs and a lot of patience and love, she maintains that she admitted turning him in to the police because she didn't want her son to feel the pressure of not being believed.

How would you describe that decision? It is estimated that it was a willingness to believe in the overwhelming evidence phase after seven months in prison for Teresa. yani and clarissa four months for paul lockhee and lucy they were finally released on bail, but it's only on bail with 127 charges still against them despite what the police now know, the family is looking at a trial that could end with life behind bars for this family. This is a family that could be any family in Australia and they will never recover from this. It's terrifying, absolutely terrifying because this could happen to anyone who comes.

I don't know, I agree because it was a very happy relief for a familyinnocent. I felt like a humiliation for detectives when you're chasing monsters make sure you don't become one the truth wins I carry pain sadness some days despair but at what cost if you don't need proof to put someone behind bars that it's absolutely terrifying that's next on 60 minutes blue sky smiling at me nothing but blue skies I see the Cook family were now on bail not allowed to see each other and still facing 127 charges of the most heinous child sexual abuse despite New York police South Wales Having no evidence against him in June 2019, his lawyer Brian Wrench requested that the charges be dismissed.

We were hoping that the DPP would see a reason for the mountains of evidence to refute the allegation that it would have been irresponsible for the DPP to go ahead and continually subject this family to this trauma was irresponsible initially, how did the dpp office respond? They needed time, they needed time, and although it took a long time, it was eight months, it's probably the longest consideration I've ever had in my career and they saw a lot of things. And they put him in this nightmare: a Blue Mountains family accused of sexual crimes against children was acquitted of all wrongdoing, so on February 14 of this year the Department of Justice admitted that there was no case against the cooks and finally dropped all 127 charges against Therese Paul Yani Lockheed. clarissa and lucy it was a total humiliation for new south wales police vindicated when all charges were dropped i didn't believe it i was shopping and brian said can you sit down?

I don't know why I'm crying because I was so happy, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I know I felt this sense of calm that I hadn't felt in a long time. For a long time, this was considered one of the cases of most atrocious child sexual abuse in the history of New South Wales. I described it as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in New South Wales for the destruction of a family for something that didn't happen. On the day the charges were dropped for Terese, her husband, David, who has been her support behind the scenes, her family and friends, the relief and joy was overwhelming, it made it difficult, obviously, they were kept apart by strict conditions of bail for some, this is the first time they have seen each other for almost two years, but after the initial euphoria, the reality of what has been done to them, their lives, their reputations, you describe the accusations as fantastic, some of them They really are, why do you think the police believe them?

I think the place that would work is the child sex crimes squad would be quite traumatized by the work they do so they can't see past everyone being guilty, it doesn't give a reason why they treated us that way but It's an understanding of how that can happen within that system, I think I'm very angry because it's very difficult to recover from something like this and I think if you don't need evidence to put someone behind bars then that's terrifying, it's absolutely terrifying, I carry pain. um, sadness, some days, despair, you know, um, the accusations leveled against me are quite heartbreaking and heartbreaking, inevitably and unfortunately for paul, more than any of the others, being called a pedophile is mud that is more likely to be hit when you look at your sister and the others who have been accused don't fit that stereotype so neatly, right?

Is it something that you fear is why you will be labeled a pedophile even though the charges are dropped? Yes, of course, it will have an impact, you know? Reputation has been destroyed some people say your life has been destroyed but I refuse to believe that this is not a victory at all costs and that is probably one of the problems I have with this kind of police is that when you are chasing monsters you don't you do it. Don't be sure to become one. Can I have one of those who have endured a terrible experience that few families would survive?

Now they share an even deeper bond, but meetings like this should also remind them of the betrayal that came from within, a betrayal that almost cost them everything would you say you're broken angry recovering how are we who is Teresa today I don't think I'm broken I think I am different um I want to be resilient um I don't know how my life will be like this I'm still very afraid, very, very afraid, it's not easy, but it's just one step in front of the other and try to focus on the positive, keep walking, keep walking, you know , because I don't want to become a better grumpy old lady I'll probably be a grumpy old lady but you don't know, it's bitter angry I want to skip it that's it hi I'm tara brown thanks for watching to stay up to date with the latest from 60 minutes

australia

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