UK news This article is more than 9 years oldFraudulent faith healer jailed for 10 years
This article is more than 9 years oldJuliette D'Souza masqueraded as a shaman for more than 12 years, persuading people to hand over thousands of poundsA woman who posed as a faith healer to con vulnerable victims out of almost £1m has been jailed for 10 years.
Juliette D'Souza masqueraded as a shaman for more than 12 years to convince 11 of her clients to hand over thousands of pounds to solve issues such as illness, redundancy, or problems conceiving a baby.
The 59-year-old, from Hampstead, north London, told her victims the money was a "sacrifice" which would be used as a spiritual offering at a sacred tree in the Amazonian rainforest. There, two other shamans would perform rituals around the money before it was sent back, and their problems would be resolved, she claimed.
In fact she used the proceeds to fund an extravagant lifestyle including designer handbags, luxury holidays and antique furniture.
On Thursday, D'Souza was convicted of 23 counts of obtaining property by deception and fraud relating to victims she targeted between January 1998 and June 2010.
Judge Ian Karsten QC said D'Souza had cast a spell over her victims and persuaded them to hand over the money or they would face terrifying consequences.
He told Blackfriars crown court in London: "It is the worst case of confidence fraud I have ever had to deal with or indeed that I have ever heard of.
"The most serious aspect of this case is that you wrecked the lives of a number of your victims and you have done it out of pure greed."
He said an aggravating feature was that she spent the money on "high living" in the UK and abroad, buying luxury items such as a £3,000 Hermès handbag.
The court heard D'Souza convinced victims to make financial sacrifices to save the lives of loved ones, avoid being made redundant or have illnesses cured, including terminal cancer.
Many were left in financial ruin, with one man "as poor as a church mouse", while D'Souza "remorselessly extracted" more than £200,000 from an elderly woman over several years, the court heard.
The total amount she defrauded in relation to the charges on the indictment was £908,400, but by the evidence given by victims the final sum was closer to £1m.
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