Paul Stephen Daly, 82, was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting one woman and having sexual contact with another six years later.
A British hypnotherapist sexually assaulted female patients under the guise of treatment, leaving them traumatized and in “constant fear”.
Paul Stephen Daly, 82, returned to Australia’s Melbourne Magistrates Court today to testify that he indecently assaulted one woman and sexually touched another six years later, even though he was his client. He pleaded guilty to committing the crime and was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order. . The British grandfather worked as a hypnotherapist in Melbourne’s east for many years before being investigated and “ticketed” by police.
Stephen-Daly was accused of assaulting a woman in 2015 and having sexual contact with another woman in her 20s in 2021, according to court documents obtained by the Herald Sun. The court heard that one of the anonymous victims contacted Ms Stephen-Daly to help treat her OCD. At first she believed she had “found a solution.” She said the victim lived in “constant fear of being watched” and believed he was watching her in her vulnerable moments, “waiting to take control”. He told the court: “I currently suffer from PTSD and have to take sleeping pills because of nightmares. I am constantly in fear that someone close to me may turn against me unexpectedly. ” he said.
A second victim, who did not wish to be named, told the court that she turned to Stephen Daly to help treat her anxiety disorder after being previously deterred by traditional therapy. She said, “I had been gaslit for months. I thought I was safe because I have a grandfather who is in his 80s and many daughters.” The court found Stephen Daly had “manipulated” his victim’s body into “uncomfortable and sexual positions”. According to her statement, he called her body a “floppy ragdoll.”
The victim said she also suffers from PTSD and often lies awake for hours at night, “preoccupied with what he has done.” Stephen Daley performed “extra-clinical” massages on clients, including lifting their clothes, putting their hands under their clothes and touching their intimate areas without the victims’ consent. .
One victim told the court she would never seek a male practitioner or carer again.
