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	Hindu Guru Found Guilty on 20 Counts of Molesting Young Girls By Eric Dexheimer The Statesman March 4, 2011 http://www.statesman.com/news/local/hindu-guru-found-guilty-on-20-counts-of-1298973.html A Hays County jury on Friday found the spiritual guru of Barsana Dham guilty of molesting two young girls who grew up at the Hindu ashram south of Austin in the mid-1990s. Prakashanand Saraswati, known to his devotees as Shree Swamiji, was convicted of all 20 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. The charges were based on allegations of two women, Shyama Rose and Vesla Tonnessen Kazimer, now 30 and 27 years old, respectively, whose families lived at the 200-acre ashram off RM 1826 in Driftwood. They said the guru kissed and fondled them on numerous occasions over the course of several years, beginning when they were as young as 12. A third woman, Kate Tonnessen, now 31, also claimed the holy man had kissed and groped her during the same period. Although her account was heard during the two-week trial, the accusations were not part of the official charges because the statute of limitations had expired. In accordance with Statesman policy on victims of sex crimes, their names have not previously appeared in the newspaper's accounts of the case. On Friday, they gave permission for their names to be used. The jury of eight men and four women returned its guilty verdict after deliberating for less than two hours. The announcement by District Court Judge Charles Ramsay was met with muffled sobs by the women, who exchanged hugs. Beyond saying they were pleased with the verdict, they declined to comment. Prakashanand, who'd sat through the trial in a special chair to ease pressure on his bad back, showed no emotion. His supporters had packed the small Hays County courthouse during the trial. "We're disappointed in the jury's verdict and steadfast in Swamiji's innocence," said Aman Agrawal, a Barsana Dham spokesman. Jurors will reconvene on Monday to decide on a sentence. Each of the 20 charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In an indictment filed in April 2008, the women claimed they'd been abused while they grew up as friends on the ashram, their families longtime devotees of Prakashanand and Hinduism. Several members of the Tonnessen family still live there, and the trial highlighted how, against the backdrop of religion and sex, the case centered on one broken family. Kate and Vesla's brother and sister are preachers at Barsana Dham; their parents reside on the property. The two sides have not had any contact since Prakashanand was charged. "Besides my sister, I'm an orphan now," Kate Tonnessen testified, weeping. "I lost my history." Over the course of the trial, prosecutors depicted Prakashanand, now 82, as a religious leader who used his stature and position of trust to prey on young devotees. When he began fondling her when she was 12, Rose said: "It just felt so wrong. He was my first kiss by a man ever. The first time anyone touched my breasts, it was Prakashanand." In the few instances in which they told an adult of the incidents, the women said, they were instructed that the touching had a higher purpose. "I was told it was a test and if I failed it I would go to hell," Rose said. The other women said they were told the guru was gracing them. Defense attorneys stressed that Prakashanand was a holy man who had devoted his life to teaching devotees and performing works of charity. The women accusing him, his lawyers said, were manipulative and angry, colluding to deliberately damage a religious organization from which they'd been ostracized. The lawyers elicited testimony from more than a half-dozen current or former Barsana Dham residents or regular visitors who insisted they had never seen the guru alone with a young girl. Several also disputed the girls' recollections of furniture placement and other details, such as the existence of a diary, and described the women's reputations growing up as dishonest. Prosecutors said the witnesses were protecting their guru. "You know the fox in the henhouse?" Assistant District Attorney Cathy Compton said. "You just got to hear from some of the hens." During the trial, each side stressed that the case was not about the brand of religion practiced at the ashram. But as a result of that insistence, Barsana Dham's Hinduism, with its occasionally unfamiliar rituals, necessarily became part of the proceedings. "From the very first witness, they started bringing up religion," said Jeff Kearney, Prakashanand's Fort Worth-based lead attorney. "They told you this is a cultlike place." "Who did you ever hear use the word 'cult'?" responded Compton. "He's trying to make it seem as though we are attacking the religion. That's like saying we're attacking the car of somebody who ran someone over." Tonnessen, Kazimer and Rose said they came forward after so many years because they were motivated by a fear that the guru was continuing to abuse young girls at the ashram. "By not speaking out, it allowed possibly more children to be abused," Tonnessen testified. The dramatically differing testimony left jurors with the task of establishing whether the women were lying to hurt the guru or whether his devotees were lying to protect him. Each side struggled with proving or disproving a case based on incidents alleged to have occurred 15 years earlier. But in the end, Compton said: "This case is real simple. Either you believe these girls or you don't." Contact: edexheimer@statesman.com 445-1774
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