A woman who claims she was raped and sexually assaulted by her therapist has told the High Court that he “retraumatised” her during a therapy session. Michael Lousada is being sued by Ella Janneh, who visited him after suffering panic attacks during consensual sex due to being abused as a child.
Ms Janneh, who waived her right to anonymity, claimed that during a session on August 18, 2016, she was raped and sexually assaulted by Mr Lousada in his clinic in Belsize Park, London. The 37-year-old is now bringing a civil claim against Mr Lousada in the High Court after the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not pursue criminal charges in 2018.
Mr Lousada, who has appeared as a guest on the TV show This Morning, denies the allegations, claiming that the sexual activity was consensual and part of “legitimate” therapeutic activity. In court documents, Ms Janneh claimed that Mr Lousada told her “his penis was, ‘like a laser beam’ and that it could ‘burn up trauma’, and that he should ‘use his penis to absorb the trauma’.
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Giving evidence in court on Monday, April 22, Ms Janneh said Mr Lousada had asked her “to be” the abused child during the session. Ms Janneh told the court of the incident: “It was a retraumatisation of the original abuse.”
Asked about a phone call she made after the incident, she said: “I was screaming. I was highly distressed.” Ms Janneh, who now lives in Melbourne, Australia, reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police a day later.
She disagreed with elements of her account as recorded by police, insisting she “never” said she “agreed” to Mr Lousada penetrating her vagina with his penis. David Boyle, for Mr Lousada, said: “You are pursuing this action against Mr Lousada and you feel that you are committed now to a narrative that says, ‘He never asked me to consent,’ and in fact he did, and you did consent, and you are now trying to change that narrative to justify your position.”
“No, I know what happened,” Ms Janneh replied. “I don’t think I would have spent seven years and eight months to get here… I know what happened.”
She described having a panic attack during the session before Mr Lousada told her she has a problem with penetration and that he thought he should use his penis to “absorb the trauma”.
“He was saying that he thought it was necessary to do it and I said okay within the framework of me having a panic attack, literally being overwhelmed by having a panic attack and just fighting to be present,” Ms Janneh told the court. “I don’t believe that is consent.”
In written submissions, Mr Boyle said that Ms Janneh did not fully disclose her past trauma and her vulnerable status, was aware of what the session involved and repeatedly provided “clear, unequivocal consent”. Criminal and civil cases require different standards of proof, with criminal prosecutions requiring the higher standard of “beyond reasonable doubt”, whereas civil cases can be ruled upon on “the balance of probabilities”.
Ms Janneh only needs to prove that it was more likely than not that she did not give consent to the sexual activity, rather than prove that Mr Lousada did not reasonably believe that she did not consent. The trial before Mr Justice Jeremy Baker continues.
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