Woman awarded £200,000 damages over rape claim against London therapist

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A woman who claimed she was raped by a therapist has been awarded more than £200,000 in damages after suing him over alleged assaults.

Ella Janneh brought a High Court claim against Michael Lousada over a therapy session involving "penetration" at his clinic in Belsize Park, London, in August 2016.

Lawyers for Ms Janneh, who has waived her right to anonymity, told a civil trial in London earlier this year that she suffered a panic attack during the session and "did not consent to the sexual acts".

Mr Lousada, who has appeared as a guest on the TV show This Morning, denied the allegations, claiming that the sexual activity was consensual and part of "legitimate" therapeutic activity.

Ms Janneh launched the civil claim against Mr Lousada for personal injury and negligence after the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not pursue criminal charges in 2018.

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".

The court heard Ms Janneh only needed 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.

In his judgment on Wednesday, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said: "I am sure that as a result of the defendant having instructed the claimant to regress into her childhood persona as an abused child, and thereafter touching her in the manner in which he did during the course of the third session, caused the claimant to become dissociative.

"Thus, the claimant has established her primary ground of trespass to the person, namely battery."

The judge also ruled that Ms Janneh should be paid at least £217,000 in damages.

Statement from Ella Janneh - "betrayed by police and CPS"

Ella Janneh said she has been "completely betrayed" by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

In a statement issued by her solicitors, Leigh Day, following the ruling, Ms Janneh said: "After an eight-year fight I'm proud to have achieved the beginnings of accountability against Mike Lousada and what he did to me. But it has taken everything in me to get here.

"Like thousands of victims, I have been completely betrayed by the police and CPS. It is so deeply unfair that I, Mike Lousada's victim, had to sacrifice eight years in the hopes of stopping him from harming anyone else. I have had to do the work of institutions that failed to support me.

"I dedicate this to every victim who was turned away by the police, the CPS, their caregivers or their loved ones.

"Regardless of this verdict, I hope that in coming out publicly that I can encourage other victims to speak their truth no matter what. I'm proud of what I have done and I will not stop fighting for justice."

The trial heard that Ms Janneh, 37, first visited Mr Lousada in 2011 and again in 2012 after suffering panic symptoms during consensual sex, which she believed stemmed from abuse as a child.

Lousada's barrister: "his work was a "legitimate activity" and included a "range of activities"

In his evidence, Mr Lousada admitted penetration occurred at some sessions but said he repeatedly received "clear verbal consent" for his actions.

Mr Lousada, who now lives in Germany, said that following the session, he recorded in his notes that he believed Ms Janneh "left feeling empowered and optimistic" and "was not obviously agitated or upset at that stage".

His barrister, David Boyle, told the court in written submissions that while Mr Lousada's activities "may not align with societal norms", his work was a "legitimate activity" and included a "range of activities".

But Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said he had "no doubt" Ms Janneh was suffering a "full-blown dissociative panic attack" and that she "entirely lacked capacity" to consent to what took place.

He said that while her symptoms "would have been obvious", Mr Lousada "chose to ignore them" which was "motivated by the defendant's confidence in his own ability to heal women".

The judge continued: "Having listened with care to the defendant giving evidence in this case, I am satisfied that the scale of his confidence in his own abilities was such that his perception of reality became clouded by his sense of self-worth."

He added it was "a matter which affected not only what the defendant perceived and did during his sessions with the claimant, but also the defendant's recollection of what had taken place, both in his written notes and in his subsequent interviews with the police, and also in his evidence in this case".

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