Campaign to clear cult leader

Sydney Morning Herald/August 11, 2007
By Alex Tibbits

The truth - according to Jan Hamilton - will cost you.

For $50 you can hear the widow of cult leader Ken Dyers - who committed suicide while facing 22 charges of sexual assault against two girls who were 12 at the time - talk tonight about "the true story about Ken Dyers and the attacks on our civil liberties".

It's another part of the campaign by Kenja - the "personal development centre" Dyers founded with Ms Hamilton - to clear the deceased leader's name and portray his accusers as "unscrupulous, criminal-minded individuals".

Two weeks ago Kenja placed an advertisement in Sydney papers, including the Herald, proclaiming Dyers' innocence.

The campaign has angered at least one of the parents of the alleged victims.

"They are saying my daughter is a liar outside of the court system," he said. "They are saying that the other girls are liars. They've tried to do that through the press and now they're trying to build up a campaign."

The lecture is part of Kenja's "Act for Change" campaign, which seems to be trying to make Dyers a martyr to civil liberties.

Its website states: "The tragic death of Ken Dyers is an example of what can happen when a person is consistently denied justice."

But by taking his own life, Dyers denied his alleged victims their day in court and any opportunity for justice.

The ad for the lecture that ran in the Herald this week was headed "In Australia we are guilty till proven innocent", but Ms Hamilton said it was not an attack on the legal system, it was just about the perceived presumption of guilt in the media.

The next line of the ad says "Imprisonment before trial on flimsy evidence", although Ms Hamilton admitted her husband was never imprisoned.

The Act for Change website states Dyers was a victim of a campaign "despite successfully disproving all allegations in court".

He did not disprove any allegation in court.

The allegations that made it to court in 1993 were not proved "beyond reasonable doubt" yet the website claims "the jury accepted the plaintiffs were liars".

Juries, though, pass judgements on the accused - not plaintiffs - and the jury did find Dyers guilty of indecently assaulting a 13-year-old girl - which was later overthrown by the High Court.

Ms Hamilton said Dyers did not have to face trial for the 2005 charges on grounds of ill health even though he was refused a permanent stay of proceedings.

Ms Hamilton said she was campaigning because "nowhere did Ken have the opportunity to clear his name". But Dyers twice asked to be declared medically unfit so he would not have to stand trial for the 2005 charges.

"It would have killed him," Ms Hamilton said.

The day Dyers committed suicide police telephoned him about more allegations of sexual assault.

Ms Hamilton said all the allegations were a conspiracy involving a former MP Stephen Mutch, money-grubbing cult busters, former Kenja members, their children, drug addicts, suicides, expensive divorce proceedings, money laundering, assault charges, blackmail, corrupt police and the media.

The Act for Change website says: "These laws are being abused by unscrupulous, criminal-minded individuals who have attacked public figures and people in responsible positions. These unscrupulous people are obsessed with their own personal agenda and self gain."

When asked what the children involved had to gain from making the allegations, Ms Hamilton repeated her stories of conspiracies before suggesting "the love of a father".

She admitted she had not pursued any of her allegations through the courts or a complaints process.