Courts

Longford ‘energy healer’ found guilty of sexually assaulting client

David Reilly (50) claimed to be clearing ‘sexual blockages’ during the assault, court told

Reilly told gardaí his work as an energy healer meant he could 'lock the aura' and remove negative energy. Photograph: Alan Betson
Reilly told gardaí his work as an energy healer meant he could 'lock the aura' and remove negative energy. Photograph: Alan Betson
Jessica Thompson
Wed Jul 31 2024 - 21:36

A Longford “energy healer” has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a client by making her place her hands on his groin while breathing heavily and staring into his eyes to “clear sexual blockages” from past sexual abuse.

David Reilly (50) of Springlawn, Longford, appeared before Longford Circuit Court over the past week, where he was tried in front of Judge Kenneth Connolly and a jury of 12 people and found guilty of one count of sexual assault and one count of offensive conduct of a sexual nature in August and September of 2021.

The injured party told prosecution barrister Shane Geraghty and the jury that she was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), more commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, in 2020 and she had attended Mr Reilly’s practice on the recommendation of a friend.

She attended two appointments with Mr Reilly at Energy Healing Ireland in August of 2021 and said she found the healing helpful and that she was more energetic afterwards.

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After her second session, while she had her daughter with her, she said Mr Reilly leant down to whisper in her ear and asked if she’d ever been “taken advantage of” in the past.

“I said yes. He said he could fix that, but I’d need to come again and come alone. He said I had sexual blockages and that I’d need to come back and clear them through heavy breathing techniques,” she said.

The woman booked a third appointment and attended Energy Healing Ireland on September 2nd 2021, on her own.

She said Mr Reilly got her to stand up and “he was standing extremely close” when he asked her to “stare into his eyes and breathe downwards”.

“His voice was getting very stern. I felt like I had to do what he told me to do. He got me to do these deep breaths while staring into his eyes. Then he got me to repeat the words ‘happiness’ and ‘oh my god’ in my head,” she said.

Mr Reilly made her touch him on his bottom and upper thighs, she said. “His hands were below my belly button, going lower towards my pubic bone,” she said.

“He was trying to get me to move my hands upwards, while breathing deeply and repeating those things in my head and staring into his eyes.

“I felt dizzy and intimidated and sick. He said it won’t work if I don’t do this. It reached the point where my hands reached his groin area,” the woman recalled, saying she was feeling “sick, confused, fearful and disgusted”, while “frozen” in a state of “disbelief and shock”.

When other clients came in the front door, she said Mr Reilly moved her to the sofa, which couldn’t be seen through the window of the consultation room door. He told her to lie down and he continued to rub her lower stomach, telling her she still had “five blockages”.

She said he later brought her into a “darker, back room” and pulled her arms behind her back. She said the ordeal ended because the receptionist waved through the glass on the door once or twice to gesture that other clients were waiting.

Mr Reilly was arrested and questioned by Det Gda Orla Gilmartin and Det Gda John Gormally and explained that his work as an energy healer meant he could “lock the aura” and remove negative energy, as well as “channelling” energy into clients.

He told gardaí the injured party’s complaints were “lies’' and that he was the victim in the situation.

The jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on both counts.

No application was made to remand Mr Reilly in custody, with a suggestion that he sign on twice weekly and conduct only remote energy healing consultations. However, Judge Connolly said he was “really very, very uncomfortable with that”.

The matter occurred almost three years ago, he said, and the injured party “has been obliged to come to court, give evidence and be subject to a cross-examination”.

“I felt Mr Reilly didn’t take the matter at all seriously and the defence at times was farcical.”

Mr Reilly has been remanded in custody to November 5th 2024 when he will appear for sentencing.