Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2003, Page 101
Latter Day Church of Christ/Kingston Clan
Woman Sues Whole Polygamous "Clan"
Mary Ann Kingston, 22, has filed a suit against the 1,000-member polygamous Kingston
clan, members of the Utah-based Latter Day Church of Christ, alleging that she was
physically and sexually abused in the group before escaping at the age of 16. She is asking
$110 million from what she terms ―a secretive religious society and economic organization‖
that teaches and promotes sexual abuse of girls through illegal and underage marriages,
incest, and polygamy. Her father was recently sentenced to 28 weeks in jail for beating her
when she tried to flee an arranged marriage, and her husband (also her uncle) was not long
ago released after serving four years in prison for incest and unlawful sexual conduct with
her. (Debbie Hummel, AP, Internet, 8/28/03)
Life Space
Leader’s Sentence Shortened
Chiba, Japan District Court has cut by eight years the 15-year sentence of Life Space
leader Koji Takahashi who was convicted of removing an intravenous drip being used on a
follower who had suffered a stroke, thinking it was endangering the man‘s life. Takahashi
then ordered the man‘s family to remove him from the hospital and care for him at a hotel,
where they only patted his head until he died. The judge said that Takahashi ―didn‘t
particularly want the victim to die and it is not possible to say that he acted with malicious
intent.‖ (Mainichi Shimbun, Internet, 6/27/03)
Lord’s Resistance Army
Abducted Children Rescued
Uganda government troops have freed more than 50 children from the Lord‘s Resistance
Army following a battle with the rebel group, north of Seroti. [The Lord‘s Resistance Army
kidnaps children and turns them into armed anti-government fighters.] (Nathaniel Etungu,
New Vision, Internet, 7/2/03)
Campaign to End "Conspiracy of Silence"
The Church Missionary Society (CMS), founded 200 years ago in Britain to abolish slavery,
says it will launch a campaign to end what it calls ―an international conspiracy of silence‖
about the depredations of Uganda‘s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The CMS says that the
LRA, a rebel movement that the Uganda government has been unable to control, is a cult
that has abducted more than 20,000 children for use as soldiers, pack animals, and sex
slaves. (East African/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX, Internet, 8/11/03)
Magnificat Meal Movement
Former Irish PM’s Nephew Joins Movement
Niall Haughey, the nephew of former Irish prime minister Charles Haughey, has given up his
business and home and moved to Australia to live with the Magnificat Meal Movement
(MMM). Sources say Haughey has handed over most of his money to MMM leader Debra
Burslem, and will now live simply, working the group‘s land, in Queensland. Burslem, who
claims she has visions of the Virgin Mary, owns property worth several million dollars.
Irish cult expert Mike Garde says the group ―brainwashes‖ members, adding that some have
sold their homes near the property and given 30 percent to Burslem, who tells them the
Virgin Mary wishes them to do so. It is said that Burslem owns four Mercedes cars and is a
director of at least 10 companies.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2003, Page 102
Niall Haughey‘s father says, ―I am not worried about him at all.‖ (Sunday Irish Independent,
Internet, 6/29/03)
Malvo/Brainwashing
“Brainwashing” Defense Mounted
Lee Boyd Malvo, whose attorneys mounted an insanity-by-reason-of-brainwashing
defense, has been found guilty of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to life in
prison without parole in connection with the Washington, DC-area sniper attacks in 2002.
The trial lasted 18 days and the jury heard almost 150 witnesses.
The defense argued that the teenager had been indoctrinated while under the tight control
of John Allen Muhammad, recently convicted of another of the sniper murders. Prosecutors
in Allen‘s trial, faced with the fact that most of the evidence pointed to Malvo as the actual
shooter, had argued that Muhammad deserved to be convicted because he controlled Malvo
and molded the younger man into a killer. Police interrogation tapes — which the defense
tried unsuccessfully to keep out of evidence — indicated Malvo was proud of his shooting
skill, and unremorseful.
The law in Virginia, where both were tried, requires the defense to prove the indoctrination
led to a ―mental disease or defect‖ that left the defendant unable to distinguish right from
wrong or control his actions. The prosecution said Malvo‘s evasion of arrest for weeks during
the killing spree, and his conspiring with Muhammad to extort $10 million from the
government while on the run, proved that he knew he was doing wrong. Patty Hearst‘s
similar ―brainwashing‖ defense failed in 1976, and experts say that it hardly ever prevails,
especially in ‗high profile‘ cases.
Malvo’s Background
The defense tried to show that Malvo‘s background predisposed him to be controlled and
manipulated by Muhammad. Relatives from Jamaica, where Malvo grew up, testified his
mother moved frequently, often leaving him with family or friends, and beat him often, once
after he threatened to hang himself if she moved him again. One of Malvo‘s high school
teachers said family instability led Malvo to search constantly for a father figure and he
happened to find one in Muhammad.
The Rev. Albert Archer, who runs a homeless shelter in Bellingham, WA, testified
Muhammad and Malvo had a father-son relationship Muhammad had ‖a very strong
influence‖ over Malvo ―a personality that will draw people to him ...It was a winning way
he had of drawing Lee into his way of thinking.‖
Muhammad met Malvo when the older man — a former U.S. Army regular who served in
Operation Desert Storm but left the service discontented — visited Antigua, where he
allegedly began to indoctrinate Malvo and train him in marksmanship, which continued after
they traveled to Washington state in late 2002. Malvo wrote a letter at that time to a niece
of Muhammad‘s first wife saying: ―Why am I here, there seems for me no purpose?
Everyone who has met me hates my gutsy rambling and considers my gibberish [sic] fake.
My patience is thinning, my conflict unresolved, my psyche and fear strewn ...I should
have been banished and killed ...for I‘m perceived as a walking time bomb waiting to
explode ...All I ask is to be loved.‖ The defense treated the letter as a cry for help, but in
response to a prosecution objection the judge withheld it from the jury.
Psychological Evaluations
In custody, Malvo described to a forensic social worker the new society of ―superpeople‖ he
believed would change the world he and Mohammad intended to create. They would begin
with 70 boys and girls from around the world brought to live in a community somewhere in