Satyananda ashram sex abuse victims want $1 million in compensation

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 10, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Victims of horrific assaults committed at a yoga ashram on the NSW central coast have asked for $1 million each in compensation, a sex abuse inquiry has heard.

Six of the nine victims who have given evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse about the trauma they suffered at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain in the 1970s and 1980s have formally requested financial redress throught their legal counsel.

Sarah Tetlow, chief executive of the ashram’s parent body, the Satyananda Yoga Academy, indicated to the commission that the organisation was considering financial compensation for victims, who have previously told of ongoing mental and physical health problems as a result of the abuse they suffered at the hands of former leader Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

She told the commission that the Satyananda Yoga Academy’s net assets were worth $5.6 million. It owns three properties at Mangrove Mountain, Manly and rural Victoria. Three more properties on the NSW central coast are held in the name of two trusts associated with the academy.

The final day of the inquiry heard evidence about the ashram’s efforts to help the victims, which included an invitation to attend a fire ceremony.

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