John of God: The Crimes of a Spiritual Healer (2021) s01e03 Episode Script
The Trial
SCENES OF UNCONVENTIONAL SURGERY AND
REPORTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE MAY BE TRIGGERING
SÃO PAULO
BRAZIL
[Mannelli] I guess
this is how life is for everyone.
It is not only made of happy moments.
I've been through a very tough one.
I don't like to use the word "victim"
because I consider myself a survivor.
This happened to me nine years ago.
At that time, I wanted to report him.
This was my first thought.
"I'm going to report him."
I was a bit afraid
because he was a powerful man
and exercised some authority there,
so I gave up on the idea of reporting him.
I decided to lock this story up in a box
and thought that would be
the best way to move on.
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES
When I heard
about the first report on the news,
I knew that his time had come.
Lots of women revealed
what happened in Abadiânia
and I wasn't on my own in this fight.
I said, "His time has come,
and so has mine."
They will finally unmask this man.
Now it's my turn to report him.
As soon as the news was over on TV,
I sat in front of my computer
and wrote a nine-page statement.
ANDREA MANNELLI
SURVIVOR
I drew a sketch map of that room,
of that space.
Here's the floor plan. This is the stage.
People would get in here.
MAIN ROOM
After rounding the corner,
you're right in front of him.
This is the hall to his private room.
This is a really enlightening picture
because the way he grabs this girl's arm,
reminds me of my case.
And these are his loyal assistants.
Chico Lobo was the first person
we got in touch with.
He knew about everything
that happened there.
Those extremely detailed images,
these memories I kept,
this is what I have
to use to my advantage.
[theme music plays]
CURE - FAITH - MEDIUM
SPIRITUAL SURGERY
SILENCE
In São Paulo in one week,
the prosecution heard
from 47 potential victims of the medium.
There have been
78 formal statements already received.
New accusations against John of God.
The number of reports
against the medium is now 200.
[reporter] from 11 countries
outside Brazil.
The prosecutor's office now has
more than 500 reports against John of God.
There is no connection among these women.
GABRIELA MANSSUR
PROSECUTOR
These are facts
that come from all over Brazil.
Women with different profiles
Who are not aiming
to cause damage to anyone.
One notices that this is a narrative
filled with emotion,
facts, and calls for justice.
MARIA GABRIELA PRADO MANSSUR
PROSECUTOR
[Manssur] We were on the TV news
and the following morning,
my cell phone wouldn't stop ringing.
People were looking for me on WhatsApp,
via email, over my social media.
And it was a lot of women.
Not just one, two, three.
I got more than 200 reports via email.
At that point I got in touch
with the state's attorney of São Paulo,
told him about the situation,
and they immediately launched
a task force called: "We Are Many."
I've handled many cases of kidnapping,
beatings, torture.
I've worked as a public prosecutor
for eight years
defending only women who were murdered.
But nothing touched me
as much as John of God's case
because he'd used people's faith
and these women's extreme vulnerability.
[guitar music plays]
PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE - STATE OF GOIÁS
As a prosecutor, I carry the name
of the whole prosecutor's office of Goiás.
So it's a huge responsibility.
And everything we represent
to the victims
LUCIANO MIRANDA MEIRELES
PROSECUTOR
maybe all the sense of justice,
all this trust that 350 women had
in the prosecutor's office,
I carry it all with me.
He always took advantage
of a moment of weakness.
He always attacked the victim
at that moment
when they most needed support.
I say this paints
a picture of the John of God case.
We have victims from all over the world,
of all ages,
since the '70s,
who have been abused in the same way.
Sexual abuse
is overwhelming.
REJANE ARAÚJO
SURVIVOR
It feels like It sticks onto our skin.
Onto our bodies.
Besides being stuck in our minds.
It's overwhelming.
It destroys relationships,
friends, family.
Still today, there are people in my family
who don't believe what happened to me.
[woman] John of God's case
came to my office
because those victims
were looking for women
who stood up for women.
How are you?
I have clients
who were raped eight, ten years ago
and haven't yet told their moms.
LUIZA ELUF
ATTORNEY OF THE SURVIVORS
See how terrible this oppression is
when it comes to female sexuality?
If a person can't tell their own mom,
you expect them
to tell that to the deputy?
To the judge?
It's hard, don't you think?
How will she be treated? She has no clue.
She's afraid of being devalued.
She's afraid of being blamed
for what happened to her
because this is something usual in Brazil.
"Why did you go there?"
"Why would you go to that place?"
"Why did you go there alone?"
"Why did you let him do it?"
This kind of question,
this is out of the world to me.
I can't understand how a human being
can treat another human being like this.
They blame the victim
for what happened to them.
[woman] How are you? Good.
[woman 2] Hi, how are you?
[Araújo] Good.
Hi, how are you? I'm Rejane.
We created a WhatsApp group.
Andrea was in the on the groups,
helping me.
In those groups,
I saw them helping each other.
I saw them
telling each other not to give up.
I saw them sharing love, kindness,
and empathy among one another.
[woman] I was more vulnerable that day.
More shaken.
I started to cry, and he said,
"The entity wants
to see you after the session
because you have this great mediumship
and you can save your mother."
[woman 2] The same story.
[woman 3] I thought
I had to put it inside a box.
Leave it there
and never touch it again or talk about it.
But then, it came to light.
When I saw the news, I told my husband,
"I'll report him as well."
I told him right away.
He said, "Are you sure?" "I am."
Then he went there with me.
Then I saw the huge hole I had in my soul.
[Mannelli] When I get together
with these victims,
I end up talking to them,
understanding their story,
getting to know them,
and creating bonds with these women.
[woman] Actually,
I didn't want to keep doing this
because when everything happened,
my husband gave me the strength
to go there and report him.
I didn't want to, but he told me,
"No, you have to report him."
"He can't"
- [woman 2] Get away with this?
- [woman] Get away with it.
That's right. So I told him,
"Okay, then, let's go."
But I just want to put all this
behind me and forget about it.
[Araújo] But being able to share
and to talk about that,
and to heal my wounds by talking,
it's amazing
because I felt guilty until then.
I thought I was the only one.
When I saw those women
making their statements,
I didn't think twice
and went
to the public prosecutor's office.
I still had doubts
because some people told me,
"You're beating a dead horse."
Someone in my family told me that.
And my partner told me,
"This horse is not even close
to being dead."
"He must pay for what he's done."
Let's see if I can finish it
so we can make the interviews next week
GABRIELLA CLEMENTINO
PROSECUTOR
and forward this report as well.
Is there any medical evidence?
In this one, yes there is.
Three of the victims
have a more consistent situation
with psychological evidence.
All of the victims felt threatened.
All of them.
ARIANE GONÇALVES
PROSECUTOR
One of the reasons for keeping silent
was their fear of his spiritual threats.
And not only his spiritual threats.
[Meireles] We got several statements.
Many victims detailed the same abuse.
Then we realized we had more than enough
to ask for preventive detention.
And so we did it.
[woman] The warrant to arrest John of God
came from the Abadiânia courthouse.
PREVENTIVE DETENTION ORDER
It is a warrant for preventive detention
without a specified date for release.
There were two requests:
one from the state of Goiás
and the other by the detectives.
INVESTIGATION DIVISION
[man] We placed
many police officers in Abadiânia.
CIVIL POLICE - GOIÁS
Some of them close
to Mr. John's residence.
VALDEMIR BRANCO
POLICE CHIEF
He was nowhere to be found.
[woman] Since the medium couldn't be found
in any of the 20 locations
visited by the police,
he can now be arrested
by any national or foreign authority
or Interpol if he leaves the country.
The medium John of God is now considered
a fugitive by the prosecutor's office.
So far, 27 properties have been identified
as belonging to the medium.
In addition, we have information
on financial transactions
of around 35 million.
$20 MILLION REAIS:
MEDIUM HAS 27 PROPERTIES IN ABADIÂNIA
My first thought was
of course he would run away.
He was aware
of all the crimes he had committed.
Although he'll never admit them, he knows,
deep inside, that he was responsible
for all these crimes,
and how cruel and hideous he was.
[group] Our Father who art in heaven
There were situations
in which he ejaculated
and told the victim, "You see this?"
"This is ectoplasm."
"This belongs to you."
"I'm reaching rock bottom for you."
This sentence was very remarkable for us
because a victim from the northeast
stated that he said this phrase,
but there was also an Australian volunteer
who spoke very little Portuguese
and she told us,
"I just remember him telling me,
'I'm reaching rock bottom for you.'"
[woman] There's nothing of God
about John of God.
I do not tolerate people saying
he is of God.
I've known this for 13 years now.
[woman 2] I was really scared.
I was scared of
what I heard people saying about him.
I was scared of
being judged by other people.
And he benefited from only one thing:
the women's silence.
I felt like screaming so many times,
but I kept silent.
[woman 3] I've never accepted
what he did to me.
[woman 2] I hope that the justice system
proves that we are telling the truth.
I want the truth.
That's what I expect from justice.
[woman 3] I do wanna watch the verdict.
I hope he spends many,
many years in prison.
[woman] When I'm moved
by this anger and fury,
I get kind of blind.
There was no trace of fear in my mind.
MARINA BRITO
SURVIVOR
Not at all.
I had been trying
to get pregnant for five years.
And the doctors couldn't find
anything wrong with me.
When he was scribbling something,
he said I was going to get pregnant.
Can you imagine how happy I was?
And he told me
that the entity wanted to see me.
I got in. He told me to close the door.
And I did.
There was another chair in the corner
on which he sat down.
Then he asked me
to get on my knees in front of him.
There, on my knees, holding his hands,
he told me he was going to treat me
in order for me to get pregnant.
Then he started talking about past lives,
and telling me that I was a medium,
and that my energy was very strong.
"breathe in and breathe out."
"Here is your chakra."
"You've got a strong energy
and you're destabilizing me."
When he told me that,
I didn't know anything anymore.
I was led to do it and I just did it.
When I came to my senses,
he had taken his penis out of his pants,
grabbed my hand with his hand,
and held it.
But while he was speaking,
he kept doing this with my hand
over his belly,
on his penis.
He did like this:
When I tried to open my eyes,
he said, "Close your eyes. Breathe."
"You're destabilizing me.
Your energy is too strong."
I don't know how long I was there.
When I left, he told me,
"Go back to the chain."
I remember him saying that.
"Go back to the chain."
When I was in the chain,
I started thinking about it.
"Wait. What just happened there? Marina!"
Something clicked in my head.
"Marina, he took his dick out.
You're crazy."
As if someone was talking to me.
"Are you crazy? This doesn't feel right!"
I got up.
I was like, "What do I do now?"
"I'm going to talk
to that woman who first welcomed us."
"That woman with the sweet voice
who seems educated."
"I'm going to talk to her."
I called her and said
"Listen, I've just been treated by John
and he committed sexual abuse."
"He showed me his penis!"
"No!" I said, "Yes! He did!"
"No, if he did such a thing,
it's part of your treatment."
I said, "No way."
"This is not part of my treatment."
Then she told me, "Look,
this has never happened before."
"Never."
"If he did such a thing,
it was part of your treatment."
With that nice tone of voice.
And I said, "No, this doesn't feel right.
This is not right."
My brothers and sisters,
as we come to the closure
of another glorious afternoon,
here at Casa de Don Ignatius of Loyola,
our hearts, I'm sure, overflowing
with gratitude to John of God,
this extraordinary, humble, dedicated man
of great faith.
[Mannelli] He can't cure anyone.
He doesn't have the skill.
He does have a structure
that makes you believe.
Many people endorse him
and give him credibility.
From speakers who promote the Home,
to the taxi waiting for you at the airport
to take you to Abadiânia,
to the posada owners
who collect your information.
This one, please come closer.
[Mannelli] They separate you
from your group, your family,
putting you in
an even more vulnerable position.
And when you get in line,
they give you some water
that makes you feel dizzy.
All this apparatus makes you understand
that there's
a really well-structured organization
to fulfill
Mr. João Teixeira de Faria's wishes.
[Brito] When I got there,
it was very early in the morning.
He was having breakfast.
There were people in the room
when I opened the door.
"No! What are you doing?"
"Is John there? I wanna talk to him."
"You, you,
everyone who wasn't at the front."
"All of you are coming with me."
They said, "No."
"You will. You knew all about it.
You were up front so you're coming in."
"I don't wanna hear it
because you knew all about it."
"You opened the door for me
and let me close it."
"When I left, you were there."
I remember their faces
and they were all there.
And I wanted everybody there
to listen to me.
I knew they were all accomplices in that.
If, on the one hand,
he wanted to show how confident he was,
he also embarrassed himself
in there because he'd go,
"I'm a sick man."
Then he made up the story of being
a sick man who was under treatment,
because he had cancer
and I would end up killing him.
At that moment,
I was moved by a sense of compassion.
Not only towards him,
but towards everything that was around me.
An urge to pray for everything there.
"Dear Lord, dear Lord,
I can't believe it."
That's what I did.
I took the hand
of the person who was with me.
I took his hand and I prayed.
I just prayed.
[crowd] Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation,
but rescue us from evil
[thunder rumbles]
DECEMBER 16, 2018
ABADIÂNIA - GOIÁS
[sirens blare]
[Branco] John's lawyer, Mr. Toron,
called us at the police station
and showed us
that they intended to present
João Teixeira so we could perform
the preventive detention.
Our men were already warned.
Then we headed to that rural area
in the city of Abadiânia.
[man] The crime
that has shaken the country.
John of God,
a religious man who
was internationally known and respected,
is accused of sexually assaulting
hundreds of women.
Mônica Bergamo,
a journalist from Folha de São Paulo,
had already scheduled
an interview with him.
When she arrived,
she noticed he was going to surrender
so she had this quick interview
with John of God
moments before
he surrendered to the police.
[woman] Mr. John,
why are you turning yourself in today?
Why haven't you done this before?
What was the process?
When I found out,
I surrendered to the divine justice
and to the earthly justice as I promised.
Now I'm presenting myself.
[woman] Mr. John
When he got
into his lawyer's car to surrender,
I went with him.
I recorded him in the car.
Do you wanna say something?
[man] At 4:35 p.m.,
he presented himself to the police,
to this task force
created by the police in Goiânia,
at a crossroad in Abadiânia.
Look. He's coming.
The police convoy
is getting to the station.
John of God turned himself in
to the police of Goiás.
[man in English] A Brazilian faith healer
accused of sexually abusing
more than 300 women,
has handed himself into police.
ACCUSED OF MOLESTING OVER 300 WOMEN
[woman in French] Brazil watches, live,
the demise of the celebrated guru.
BRAZIL - THE DEMISE OF A GURU
- [in Portuguese] Mr. John!
- John! John!
We literally made it.
Mission accomplished. We got the job done.
That is it, you know?
So, by going to the prosecutor's office,
by sticking my neck out,
telling them my story,
they got to the truth,
the truth to have him arrested.
Relief. Relief. I just felt very relieved.
Just the fact of kicking
that monster out of that place
and stopping his work.
Like it or not, it had blown up.
People who went to the Home
or planned to
now they knew all about it.
I was really happy
when they sent him to prison.
And I was even happier
when he surrendered,
because he showed right there
that he had no power,
that he wasn't above reproach,
and that he was
just like any other citizen.
And he'd have
to settle his score with justice.
CIVIL POLICE
SPECIALIZED POLICE DEPARTMEN
[man] Are you diminishing
the reports made by those women?
Mr. John denies being guilty
of those accusations.
And, as time goes by, we will be certain
of what really happened.
I have declared, and reaffirm now,
that things that allegedly
took place 30 years ago
are being brought up just now.
These are serious accusations,
but that women
went back there one, two, or three times.
So, in respect for the people,
to these very women,
we must investigate
and judge facts very carefully.
[man] This case came into my hands
by means of a judicial authority
of Brasília.
She called me and said,
"There is a bomb going off
because of a story on Bial's show."
ALBERTO TORON
JOHN OF GOD'S COUNSEL
"There will be a special show about it."
"I know this man, I like him a lot,
he's like a father to me,
and I need you to defend him."
At first, as far as I remember,
there were four reports.
Suddenly, there were 12.
Then they jumped from 12 to 20,
then to a hundred.
And it spread, as if it went viral.
I think that among so many people,
there could be some profiteers.
Woman profiteers, I mean.
CIVIL POLICE
OFFICE OF WOMEN'S AFFAIRS
[woman] It's wonderful
to see our society evolving,
when we have a woman
leading an investigation of sex crimes.
It's like women are getting justice
for one another.
PAULA MEOTTI
POLICE CHIEF
Because of the investigation
of the sex crimes,
KARLA FERNANDES
POLICE CHIEF
and of some reports we had received,
we issued search warrants.
Even though he was already in jail,
we conducted these warrants
with the presence of his lawyer,
who attended all of our searches.
All of his houses had many secret places.
And he was a hoarder.
He had too many objects.
[woman] Should we seize this? Should we?
About half of the drawers in the house
had some kind of false bottoms.
You take an elevator
that should just go up,
but you can activate it in some way
for it to go down to a panic room.
[man] Now pull it.
Put some pressure. That's it.
- [woman] Great, guys.
- [woman 2] Let's open it now.
[man] We'll need to go down.
- [woman] In John of God's house.
- [woman 2] There's a basement!
[woman] There's a basement.
Check this out.
- [man] Let's go down.
- [woman 2] Keep the camera on.
[man] The first to go down.
- [woman] There a safe?
- [man 2] There's a safe.
[man] The police found six guns,
one with the serial number filed off.
[woman] In total, the police seized
around $1.6 million reais
and more than 100 pieces of jewelry,
such as emeralds.
[woman] I was one of the people
who didn't know about Abadiânia,
even being from Goiás.
It's because Abadiânia's a small town
in the countryside of Goiás
with about 20,000 people.
When this case blew up,
the whole newsroom engaged
SARAH TEÓFILO
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
on a mega-operation
to cover John of God's case.
It mobilized
all the departments in the newspaper.
So, I went to Abadiânia
and tried to find out about
the existing relationship between the Home
the city, and the people.
I would talk to people
about these reports of sexual abuse
and ask what they thought of it,
if they'd heard anything about it.
People were very reticent,
especially in the beginning.
Or they would say, "I don't know."
Or, "I'm sure these are all lies."
Or even, "I'd rather be quiet
because he's too powerful."
I heard that many times.
In the area of the city
where the Home was located,
the stores, massage parlors,
all had a sign that said,
"Approved by the Entity"
in English and Portuguese.
I'd go to the posadas and ask,
"Is this posada approved by the entity?"
They would say,
"Yes, it's approved by the entity."
Another thing that called my attention
was that the face of John of God
was displayed on the taxis.
By the entrance of the Home,
there weren't any street vendors.
And that was a place
that attracted many people.
And we're in Brazil, so how come
there were no street vendors there?
I asked Chico Lobo,
John of God's right-hand man, about that.
He said, "We try to keep it under control,
otherwise it becomes a mess."
And then I realized that the control
exceeded the gates of the Home.
[Wagner]
Can you imagine seeing 3,000 people
turn into 30, 50, 100 people
all of a sudden?
JARDEL WAGNER
VOLUNTEER AT THE HOME
It's sad.
[Homercher] It was painful to see him
just disappear like it happened.
I felt short of breath
when he was arrested.
ANGELA HOMERCHER
VOLUNTEER AT THE HOME
It felt like I was losing my father.
Yes.
Congratulations!
Happy birthday to you ♪
Happy birthday to you ♪
[Kist] We liked and trusted him.
Okay? I still trust him.
There are these people
who practice heresy.
NORBERTO KIS
VOLUNTEER AND HOSTEL OWNER
They confuse the man with the entity.
Do you understand?
He's done many good deeds
that need to be appreciated.
But this doesn't stop him from committing
those things he wanted to do.
JULY 24, 2019
SEVEN MONTHS AFTER THE ARRES
[man] The defense team
of the Medium João Teixeira de Faria
announced they have left the case.
Alberto Toron, his lawyer,
informed that the team of nine specialists
will cease acting
as the medium's defense lawyers.
[man] When the main team
of defense lawyers gave up on the case,
João immediately contacted us
and we took over
in all the civil and criminal actions
that involved the case
of João Teixeira de Faria.
ANDERSON VAN GUALBERTO
JOHN OF GOD'S COUNSEL
The previous team,
and I can absolutely guarantee this,
is among the ten best
law offices in the country.
To be honest,
I left this case with a heavy heart.
I was feeling really sad.
In fact, he suffered
an economic strangulation.
[woman] The justice has seized
John of God's possessions,
that are worth $50 million reais,
at the request
of the public prosecutor's office.
I don't work for free.
I endured the expenses as long as I could
until I couldn't continue
doing that anymore.
I won't give up on John of God's case
in any possible way.
I'll go until the end.
I'll go to the Supreme Court.
I'll go to the Hague,
to the Inter-American court
of Human Rights.
I'll go wherever I have to.
I won't drop the case.
If my clients say,
"I don't want your services anymore,"
it won't matter.
I'll continue on the case.
In the name of the women of Brazil.
In the name of the decency of Brazil.
In the name of our dignity,
in the name of a better country.
I'll go wherever I have to.
We are heading there today to talk to him.
We usually go two or three times a week.
We update him on the procedural details
and on the whole situation in general.
[woman] Going down.
Poor man. Just to give you an idea,
right in the beginning,
a few days after his arrest
MARCOS LARA
JOHN OF GOD'S COUNSEL
at a certain time, they turn off
all the lights in the penitentiary.
In the cells, in the corridors
of his specific penitentiary.
And João screamed in fear.
He was really scared of this dark place.
He fell off the bed several times.
His cellmate told me,
"It's unbearable sometimes."
"I have to put my mattress
next to his bed,
and lie down holding his hands
so he can calm down."
"Otherwise, he gets crazy."
Then we had to insist on asking them
to leave at least the bathroom lights on
to make him feel better
and less distressed.
[woman] João Teixeira de Faria,
77 years old, had a medical evaluation
PRISON COMPLEX
at the detention center in Goiânia.
The medical report stated that he is
in good heath, but that's not true.
He's with other inmates
and it's nothing new
that inmates in Brazil
are treated like animals.
They just get food and that's it.
They're locked in and fed and that's it.
Nothing else.
Especially in a maximum-security prison
where he is.
Nobody goes in.
[woman] Dressed in white,
people arrived
at the Home of Don Ignatius, in Abadiânia,
holding signs.
Employees at the Spiritist Center
and tourists staged a demonstration
to support John of God.
Give light for those seeking truth.
I don't believe those reports.
We worked there
and we've never heard anything.
CHICO LOBO
MANAGER OF THE HOME
So, I'm just waiting for the facts.
The police performed
a search and seizure operation
at Home of Don Ignatius of Loyola,
where the medium's appointments
used to take place.
[woman] With a search and seizure warrant,
the team examined the site
and visited the room where the medium
had his private appointments.
I don't know if it's six,
eight months, nine, ten months?
So, last year, there were curtains here?
Yes, there were
some curtains here sometimes.
But it was actually used as a room for
But, uh, yes, there were curtains here.
- He'd come to this room for?
- [Lobo] To meditate, yeah.
- And here's the bathroom?
- [Lobo] That's right.
He used to shower in there.
It's got his clothes and everything.
When we got there,
the person in charge was Chico Lobo.
He knew about everything.
"Where's the key to that door?"
He'd go get it.
"Where's that place?"
He joined us through the whole visit.
[Teófilo] Yes, Chico Lobo
was a local politician.
He'd already served as a councilman
and vice mayor.
He'd been working with John for 14 years.
I remember Chico Lobo
telling me something interesting
when I asked him about the ownership
of a charter plane
that had picked John up in São Paulo
and taken him to Anápolis.
"He had many friends."
"They send planes
to pick him up wherever he wants."
"I can book a plane
for John in ten minutes."
[Brito] I was devastated.
SILENCE IS A PRAYER
I needed to talk
to someone that was rational enough.
Who was capable of giving me an answer.
Because, unfortunately, I won't be able
to get anything from this man.
And I thought I needed to talk
to someone who is in charge of the Home.
This right-hand man named Chico.
Chico
Lobo.
I went to talk to Chico and said,
"Look, this is what happened."
"I was sexually abused
and I came here
in search of a treatment to get pregnant."
"I had faith in my heart.
I believed in it."
"But then those things happened."
I recorded this dialogue.
It's on my cell phone.
You want to talk about it?
It's very, very serious.
Of course.
He molested me physically.
Not only physically.
Emotionally, too. He took advantage of me
while I was vulnerable.
When you come to this world,
which is the opposite of all you know,
you must try to understand it better.
I'm trying to explain the facts.
I'm not taking sides.
- Okay.
- Never.
Here's the thing, it may have happened.
Look into the biggest mediums in Brazil.
You'll find some interesting facts.
They get this kind of radiation
we're not exposed to.
It's instinct. There's human instinct,
and there's energy instinct.
There's no explanation for this.
We can't rationalize something like that.
Things cannot go on this way.
You must be held accountable, too.
- Yes, we're all here.
- Big responsibility.
I could speak up and put an end to it all.
- After all that happened.
- What I'm saying is Calm down.
That's all I ask.
Do something about it. I'll come back.
I'll come back, you hear me?
We were constantly talking
with Chico Lobo.
Our goal was
that he tell us everything he knew
or that he had access to.
This was our goal.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out.
CHICO LOBO DIES IN ANÁPOLIS,
THE RIGHT HAND OF MEDIUM JOHN OF GOD
I was shocked
when I heard about his death.
CHICO LOBO DIES IN ANÁPOLIS
CHICO LOBO,
MANAGER OF HOME OF DON IGNATIUS, DIES
[Brito] I left the Home and thought,
"What else can I do?"
I needed to go to a police station.
I needed to warn the city
about what had just happened.
When I got to the precinct,
I told them everything.
And again,
there was no surprise
whatsoever with what I was saying.
I remember the chief of police,
who was a woman,
saying there was nothing she could do.
The sexual abuse itself,
the physical abuse itself,
wasn't what really hurt me.
What really hurt me
was realizing that it wouldn't stop there.
I received information that someone
had reported him to the police
in a similar case in Goiânia.
The first thing I did
was visit the Court of Appeals website
and type some keywords:
"João Teixeira de Faria," "John of God."
And I found a final judgment from 2013
in which a 16-year-old girl claimed
to be abused by him.
She got in his room with her father
and he ordered both
of them to close their eyes.
And he caressed her breasts,
belly, bottom, and crotch.
A 16-year-old girl then.
He asked her father to turn his back
on them and never open his eyes.
The judge said,
"Although we can say the victim
was vulnerable
because of her panic-syndrome condition,
it does not explain why she did not react
against the grim actions of the defendant
because she was not alone in the room."
"The acts of the defendant,
when disregarding the ethical principles
that guide the doctrine of Alan Kardec,
were immoral, but do not characterize
sexual violation
by means of fraud for the absence
of the essential elements."
[Meireles] The trauma doesn't end.
She keeps revisiting the whole situation.
Over and over.
And there are
a great number of people who say,
"I've never been the same again."
"Mr. João Teixeira ruined my life."
"I can't be in a relationship."
"I'm still on psychological support
15, 20 years later."
[Araújo] My mom and me.
- [woman] Your graduation?
- [Araújo] No, it was an event I promoted.
- And this?
- It was last year.
- At the wedding.
- [woman] One of the weddings.
This was in 2010,
the year I went to Abadiânia.
MARCIA AVILA
REJANE'S PARTNER
This is when you came
to rescue me in Salvador.
I say she went to rescue me
because we had just started dating.
So she literally won me over
when she went there
even though I was sick and overweight.
Look at the difference, Marti.
This photo is from 2010,
when I was there in Abadiânia, right?
And this was two years later.
Yes, this one's in 2013.
That is me. Can you tell?
I really did turn into another person.
Two years after
what happened in Abadiânia,
I weighed almost 220 pounds.
I went from 136 to 220 pounds.
I had diabetes, muscle aches,
hip pain.
I was completely ill.
I was so hidden inside myself
that I couldn't recognize me anymore.
When I met people, it was absurd.
I told myself,
"This is not me. I'm not like this."
And this led to serious psychological
and psychosomatic issues
in my personal life,
but especially in my professional life.
And still, up to this day,
I can't see myself.
I can't see the Rejane I used to be.
Light, free.
There was a Rejane
before Abadiânia and the Rejane now.
[Mannelli] On the days
that preceded my formal statement,
I began to refine
the details that came to my mind
and I was supported by lawyer,
Mrs. Luiza Eluf.
First of all, you breathe and think.
You're not in a rush to talk.
If you feel like the judge is rushing you,
LUIZA ELUF
ATTORNEY OF THE SURVIVORS
If he says,
"No, this part I understand," you say,
"No, I need to explain
this part very well to you, sir."
"Because if I can't do it now,
I won't be able
to explain it to anyone else."
[Mannelli] I've never accepted
the fact that this man is out there.
But why did it take you
so long to report him?
[Mannelli] I heard about other victims.
That's it.
"Because I felt encouraged."
"Because I saw many people
telling the same story,
I felt confident to report him as well."
[woman] And even aware of the abuse,
you decided to go back there
and take the risk of being abused again?
[Mannelli] Yes, because of my mother.
I thought it was part of the treatment.
Because he said
that was part of the treatment
and because it was for my mom.
I'm talking about my mom here.
Not my neighbor, not my aunt
from the other side of the world.
It's my mom who's ill.
Do you have any idea
how it feels to lose your mom?
You would do anything for your mom.
[Mannelli] We know
that the defense is formed by men.
They can try
and make me feel uncomfortable, like,
"What did he do, exactly?"
Trying to nitpick.
"What do you mean by 'rape'?"
- [Eluf] "What kind of abuse was it?"
- [Mannelli] "Yes, what kind?"
It's the kind of question
I refuse to answer.
If they ask you to describe,
it's important because it's the only way
of proving it was rape.
That you say exactly what he did.
Don't worry, because judge,
either man or woman,
can't boss you around.
Just say what you feel like saying.
Feel free to cry.
And feel free to cry there too.
No problem whatsoever.
No problem.
It's how it works.
The pain is part of the process,
and it fades away.
Every time you cry,
a little bit of the pain goes away, okay?
[Mannelli] I spent
the whole weekend going over it,
working on my testimony,
focusing on what I can't forget,
fixing some words I'd better change.
When you carry something for nine years,
there's too much energy.
You just wanna give voice to something
you've never been able to.
I started this whole process
and I can't go back.
Now I have to go
through with it until the end.
I wanna be as calm as I can be.
I wanna express everything
that happened to me.
SÃO PAULO COURT OF JUSTICE
MÁRIO GUIMARÃES CRIMINAL COUR
I decided to give my testimony today
because the consequences of a crime
committed years ago still haunt me.
Migraines caused by emotions,
the destruction of my femininity,
because of a trauma
I could never overcome,
are some of the marks I've been carrying.
He stole part of my life, my joy
part of my happiness,
my freedom, and my dignity.
But he did not kill me.
I've learned how to live with that pain,
but not how to heal it.
Since then, all I can think of
is how I can bring justice
and send him where he belongs: jail.
I believe that,
as far as the sex crimes are concerned,
there is no way out.
They'll find him guilty.
Unfortunately, it will take some time
for them to give us their final decision,
but I believe that you, Andrea,
will play an important role
in all this transformation in Brazil,
in punishing those people.
You're brave and a very bright woman.
You're very confident.
I'm really sorry
for what you've been through,
but I do believe
you'll play a transforming role.
[soft guitar music plays]
My beloved brothers and sisters,
today, on May 22, the Month of Mary,
the month of a huge Mary devotee:
Saint Rita of Cascia.
The great messenger of the mission
our medium is supposed to fulfill.
We are all so glad
to receive working with us,
our sister Dalva, Mr. John's daughter.
For the first time in my life.
And there's no one more appropriate
to offer those carnations
in the name of all of us.
DALVA TEIXEIRA DE SOUSA
JOHN OF GOD'S DAUGHTER
[Dalva] The first memories I have
before meeting my father are from Itapaci.
My brother Zezinho and I,
my mother, and my stepfather.
Our lives were simply running around,
grazing cattle, riding horses, sewing,
helping my mom with the crops.
A quiet life, but a good life.
We loved each other very much,
praise to God.
Then, he came out of thin air.
My mom came to my room and said,
"Come and meet your father."
I was nine years old.
And he told my mom
that he would come
and pick us within a week
to send us to school
so we could be educated.
- Do you remember this photo?
- [woman] I remember.
- [Dalva] Where did we take it?
- [woman] It was in Itapaci.
Your dad was still married with my mom.
Also it was when your father
took you guys from my mom's house.
FÁTIMA GONÇALVES
DALVA'S HALF SISTER
- Was it?
- Yes, it was at that time
when I cried my heart out
asking to have you back.
You know the only thing I resent
towards my mom, Fátima?
The fact that she let him
take us from her.
Especially because she knew who he was.
But I guess she believed
he would send us to school and raise us.
- That's what he said, right?
- Yes. That's what he said.
But it went down differently,
right, Fátima?
It was a different world for us.
I looked at my father and said,
"What a handsome man!"
I looked at him and thought,
"He is a prince."
But later I started watching
how he behaved.
He was as good as he was evil.
And it was always like that.
He had a different kind
of care towards me.
He was very jealous.
He wouldn't let me have any friends.
[John] People are waiting for the cake.
[Dalva] The employees had
to take them and pick them up from school.
I couldn't have a friend visit me
because he wouldn't let me.
And it was always like this.
When I was nine, almost ten,
that's when he abused me
for the first time.
IF YOU KNOW A VICTIM OF VIOLENCE OR ABUSE
AND NEED HELP TO FIND RESOURCES
VISIT WWW.WANNATALKABOUTIT.COM
REPORTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE MAY BE TRIGGERING
SÃO PAULO
BRAZIL
[Mannelli] I guess
this is how life is for everyone.
It is not only made of happy moments.
I've been through a very tough one.
I don't like to use the word "victim"
because I consider myself a survivor.
This happened to me nine years ago.
At that time, I wanted to report him.
This was my first thought.
"I'm going to report him."
I was a bit afraid
because he was a powerful man
and exercised some authority there,
so I gave up on the idea of reporting him.
I decided to lock this story up in a box
and thought that would be
the best way to move on.
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES
When I heard
about the first report on the news,
I knew that his time had come.
Lots of women revealed
what happened in Abadiânia
and I wasn't on my own in this fight.
I said, "His time has come,
and so has mine."
They will finally unmask this man.
Now it's my turn to report him.
As soon as the news was over on TV,
I sat in front of my computer
and wrote a nine-page statement.
ANDREA MANNELLI
SURVIVOR
I drew a sketch map of that room,
of that space.
Here's the floor plan. This is the stage.
People would get in here.
MAIN ROOM
After rounding the corner,
you're right in front of him.
This is the hall to his private room.
This is a really enlightening picture
because the way he grabs this girl's arm,
reminds me of my case.
And these are his loyal assistants.
Chico Lobo was the first person
we got in touch with.
He knew about everything
that happened there.
Those extremely detailed images,
these memories I kept,
this is what I have
to use to my advantage.
[theme music plays]
CURE - FAITH - MEDIUM
SPIRITUAL SURGERY
SILENCE
In São Paulo in one week,
the prosecution heard
from 47 potential victims of the medium.
There have been
78 formal statements already received.
New accusations against John of God.
The number of reports
against the medium is now 200.
[reporter] from 11 countries
outside Brazil.
The prosecutor's office now has
more than 500 reports against John of God.
There is no connection among these women.
GABRIELA MANSSUR
PROSECUTOR
These are facts
that come from all over Brazil.
Women with different profiles
Who are not aiming
to cause damage to anyone.
One notices that this is a narrative
filled with emotion,
facts, and calls for justice.
MARIA GABRIELA PRADO MANSSUR
PROSECUTOR
[Manssur] We were on the TV news
and the following morning,
my cell phone wouldn't stop ringing.
People were looking for me on WhatsApp,
via email, over my social media.
And it was a lot of women.
Not just one, two, three.
I got more than 200 reports via email.
At that point I got in touch
with the state's attorney of São Paulo,
told him about the situation,
and they immediately launched
a task force called: "We Are Many."
I've handled many cases of kidnapping,
beatings, torture.
I've worked as a public prosecutor
for eight years
defending only women who were murdered.
But nothing touched me
as much as John of God's case
because he'd used people's faith
and these women's extreme vulnerability.
[guitar music plays]
PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE - STATE OF GOIÁS
As a prosecutor, I carry the name
of the whole prosecutor's office of Goiás.
So it's a huge responsibility.
And everything we represent
to the victims
LUCIANO MIRANDA MEIRELES
PROSECUTOR
maybe all the sense of justice,
all this trust that 350 women had
in the prosecutor's office,
I carry it all with me.
He always took advantage
of a moment of weakness.
He always attacked the victim
at that moment
when they most needed support.
I say this paints
a picture of the John of God case.
We have victims from all over the world,
of all ages,
since the '70s,
who have been abused in the same way.
Sexual abuse
is overwhelming.
REJANE ARAÚJO
SURVIVOR
It feels like It sticks onto our skin.
Onto our bodies.
Besides being stuck in our minds.
It's overwhelming.
It destroys relationships,
friends, family.
Still today, there are people in my family
who don't believe what happened to me.
[woman] John of God's case
came to my office
because those victims
were looking for women
who stood up for women.
How are you?
I have clients
who were raped eight, ten years ago
and haven't yet told their moms.
LUIZA ELUF
ATTORNEY OF THE SURVIVORS
See how terrible this oppression is
when it comes to female sexuality?
If a person can't tell their own mom,
you expect them
to tell that to the deputy?
To the judge?
It's hard, don't you think?
How will she be treated? She has no clue.
She's afraid of being devalued.
She's afraid of being blamed
for what happened to her
because this is something usual in Brazil.
"Why did you go there?"
"Why would you go to that place?"
"Why did you go there alone?"
"Why did you let him do it?"
This kind of question,
this is out of the world to me.
I can't understand how a human being
can treat another human being like this.
They blame the victim
for what happened to them.
[woman] How are you? Good.
[woman 2] Hi, how are you?
[Araújo] Good.
Hi, how are you? I'm Rejane.
We created a WhatsApp group.
Andrea was in the on the groups,
helping me.
In those groups,
I saw them helping each other.
I saw them
telling each other not to give up.
I saw them sharing love, kindness,
and empathy among one another.
[woman] I was more vulnerable that day.
More shaken.
I started to cry, and he said,
"The entity wants
to see you after the session
because you have this great mediumship
and you can save your mother."
[woman 2] The same story.
[woman 3] I thought
I had to put it inside a box.
Leave it there
and never touch it again or talk about it.
But then, it came to light.
When I saw the news, I told my husband,
"I'll report him as well."
I told him right away.
He said, "Are you sure?" "I am."
Then he went there with me.
Then I saw the huge hole I had in my soul.
[Mannelli] When I get together
with these victims,
I end up talking to them,
understanding their story,
getting to know them,
and creating bonds with these women.
[woman] Actually,
I didn't want to keep doing this
because when everything happened,
my husband gave me the strength
to go there and report him.
I didn't want to, but he told me,
"No, you have to report him."
"He can't"
- [woman 2] Get away with this?
- [woman] Get away with it.
That's right. So I told him,
"Okay, then, let's go."
But I just want to put all this
behind me and forget about it.
[Araújo] But being able to share
and to talk about that,
and to heal my wounds by talking,
it's amazing
because I felt guilty until then.
I thought I was the only one.
When I saw those women
making their statements,
I didn't think twice
and went
to the public prosecutor's office.
I still had doubts
because some people told me,
"You're beating a dead horse."
Someone in my family told me that.
And my partner told me,
"This horse is not even close
to being dead."
"He must pay for what he's done."
Let's see if I can finish it
so we can make the interviews next week
GABRIELLA CLEMENTINO
PROSECUTOR
and forward this report as well.
Is there any medical evidence?
In this one, yes there is.
Three of the victims
have a more consistent situation
with psychological evidence.
All of the victims felt threatened.
All of them.
ARIANE GONÇALVES
PROSECUTOR
One of the reasons for keeping silent
was their fear of his spiritual threats.
And not only his spiritual threats.
[Meireles] We got several statements.
Many victims detailed the same abuse.
Then we realized we had more than enough
to ask for preventive detention.
And so we did it.
[woman] The warrant to arrest John of God
came from the Abadiânia courthouse.
PREVENTIVE DETENTION ORDER
It is a warrant for preventive detention
without a specified date for release.
There were two requests:
one from the state of Goiás
and the other by the detectives.
INVESTIGATION DIVISION
[man] We placed
many police officers in Abadiânia.
CIVIL POLICE - GOIÁS
Some of them close
to Mr. John's residence.
VALDEMIR BRANCO
POLICE CHIEF
He was nowhere to be found.
[woman] Since the medium couldn't be found
in any of the 20 locations
visited by the police,
he can now be arrested
by any national or foreign authority
or Interpol if he leaves the country.
The medium John of God is now considered
a fugitive by the prosecutor's office.
So far, 27 properties have been identified
as belonging to the medium.
In addition, we have information
on financial transactions
of around 35 million.
$20 MILLION REAIS:
MEDIUM HAS 27 PROPERTIES IN ABADIÂNIA
My first thought was
of course he would run away.
He was aware
of all the crimes he had committed.
Although he'll never admit them, he knows,
deep inside, that he was responsible
for all these crimes,
and how cruel and hideous he was.
[group] Our Father who art in heaven
There were situations
in which he ejaculated
and told the victim, "You see this?"
"This is ectoplasm."
"This belongs to you."
"I'm reaching rock bottom for you."
This sentence was very remarkable for us
because a victim from the northeast
stated that he said this phrase,
but there was also an Australian volunteer
who spoke very little Portuguese
and she told us,
"I just remember him telling me,
'I'm reaching rock bottom for you.'"
[woman] There's nothing of God
about John of God.
I do not tolerate people saying
he is of God.
I've known this for 13 years now.
[woman 2] I was really scared.
I was scared of
what I heard people saying about him.
I was scared of
being judged by other people.
And he benefited from only one thing:
the women's silence.
I felt like screaming so many times,
but I kept silent.
[woman 3] I've never accepted
what he did to me.
[woman 2] I hope that the justice system
proves that we are telling the truth.
I want the truth.
That's what I expect from justice.
[woman 3] I do wanna watch the verdict.
I hope he spends many,
many years in prison.
[woman] When I'm moved
by this anger and fury,
I get kind of blind.
There was no trace of fear in my mind.
MARINA BRITO
SURVIVOR
Not at all.
I had been trying
to get pregnant for five years.
And the doctors couldn't find
anything wrong with me.
When he was scribbling something,
he said I was going to get pregnant.
Can you imagine how happy I was?
And he told me
that the entity wanted to see me.
I got in. He told me to close the door.
And I did.
There was another chair in the corner
on which he sat down.
Then he asked me
to get on my knees in front of him.
There, on my knees, holding his hands,
he told me he was going to treat me
in order for me to get pregnant.
Then he started talking about past lives,
and telling me that I was a medium,
and that my energy was very strong.
"breathe in and breathe out."
"Here is your chakra."
"You've got a strong energy
and you're destabilizing me."
When he told me that,
I didn't know anything anymore.
I was led to do it and I just did it.
When I came to my senses,
he had taken his penis out of his pants,
grabbed my hand with his hand,
and held it.
But while he was speaking,
he kept doing this with my hand
over his belly,
on his penis.
He did like this:
When I tried to open my eyes,
he said, "Close your eyes. Breathe."
"You're destabilizing me.
Your energy is too strong."
I don't know how long I was there.
When I left, he told me,
"Go back to the chain."
I remember him saying that.
"Go back to the chain."
When I was in the chain,
I started thinking about it.
"Wait. What just happened there? Marina!"
Something clicked in my head.
"Marina, he took his dick out.
You're crazy."
As if someone was talking to me.
"Are you crazy? This doesn't feel right!"
I got up.
I was like, "What do I do now?"
"I'm going to talk
to that woman who first welcomed us."
"That woman with the sweet voice
who seems educated."
"I'm going to talk to her."
I called her and said
"Listen, I've just been treated by John
and he committed sexual abuse."
"He showed me his penis!"
"No!" I said, "Yes! He did!"
"No, if he did such a thing,
it's part of your treatment."
I said, "No way."
"This is not part of my treatment."
Then she told me, "Look,
this has never happened before."
"Never."
"If he did such a thing,
it was part of your treatment."
With that nice tone of voice.
And I said, "No, this doesn't feel right.
This is not right."
My brothers and sisters,
as we come to the closure
of another glorious afternoon,
here at Casa de Don Ignatius of Loyola,
our hearts, I'm sure, overflowing
with gratitude to John of God,
this extraordinary, humble, dedicated man
of great faith.
[Mannelli] He can't cure anyone.
He doesn't have the skill.
He does have a structure
that makes you believe.
Many people endorse him
and give him credibility.
From speakers who promote the Home,
to the taxi waiting for you at the airport
to take you to Abadiânia,
to the posada owners
who collect your information.
This one, please come closer.
[Mannelli] They separate you
from your group, your family,
putting you in
an even more vulnerable position.
And when you get in line,
they give you some water
that makes you feel dizzy.
All this apparatus makes you understand
that there's
a really well-structured organization
to fulfill
Mr. João Teixeira de Faria's wishes.
[Brito] When I got there,
it was very early in the morning.
He was having breakfast.
There were people in the room
when I opened the door.
"No! What are you doing?"
"Is John there? I wanna talk to him."
"You, you,
everyone who wasn't at the front."
"All of you are coming with me."
They said, "No."
"You will. You knew all about it.
You were up front so you're coming in."
"I don't wanna hear it
because you knew all about it."
"You opened the door for me
and let me close it."
"When I left, you were there."
I remember their faces
and they were all there.
And I wanted everybody there
to listen to me.
I knew they were all accomplices in that.
If, on the one hand,
he wanted to show how confident he was,
he also embarrassed himself
in there because he'd go,
"I'm a sick man."
Then he made up the story of being
a sick man who was under treatment,
because he had cancer
and I would end up killing him.
At that moment,
I was moved by a sense of compassion.
Not only towards him,
but towards everything that was around me.
An urge to pray for everything there.
"Dear Lord, dear Lord,
I can't believe it."
That's what I did.
I took the hand
of the person who was with me.
I took his hand and I prayed.
I just prayed.
[crowd] Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation,
but rescue us from evil
[thunder rumbles]
DECEMBER 16, 2018
ABADIÂNIA - GOIÁS
[sirens blare]
[Branco] John's lawyer, Mr. Toron,
called us at the police station
and showed us
that they intended to present
João Teixeira so we could perform
the preventive detention.
Our men were already warned.
Then we headed to that rural area
in the city of Abadiânia.
[man] The crime
that has shaken the country.
John of God,
a religious man who
was internationally known and respected,
is accused of sexually assaulting
hundreds of women.
Mônica Bergamo,
a journalist from Folha de São Paulo,
had already scheduled
an interview with him.
When she arrived,
she noticed he was going to surrender
so she had this quick interview
with John of God
moments before
he surrendered to the police.
[woman] Mr. John,
why are you turning yourself in today?
Why haven't you done this before?
What was the process?
When I found out,
I surrendered to the divine justice
and to the earthly justice as I promised.
Now I'm presenting myself.
[woman] Mr. John
When he got
into his lawyer's car to surrender,
I went with him.
I recorded him in the car.
Do you wanna say something?
[man] At 4:35 p.m.,
he presented himself to the police,
to this task force
created by the police in Goiânia,
at a crossroad in Abadiânia.
Look. He's coming.
The police convoy
is getting to the station.
John of God turned himself in
to the police of Goiás.
[man in English] A Brazilian faith healer
accused of sexually abusing
more than 300 women,
has handed himself into police.
ACCUSED OF MOLESTING OVER 300 WOMEN
[woman in French] Brazil watches, live,
the demise of the celebrated guru.
BRAZIL - THE DEMISE OF A GURU
- [in Portuguese] Mr. John!
- John! John!
We literally made it.
Mission accomplished. We got the job done.
That is it, you know?
So, by going to the prosecutor's office,
by sticking my neck out,
telling them my story,
they got to the truth,
the truth to have him arrested.
Relief. Relief. I just felt very relieved.
Just the fact of kicking
that monster out of that place
and stopping his work.
Like it or not, it had blown up.
People who went to the Home
or planned to
now they knew all about it.
I was really happy
when they sent him to prison.
And I was even happier
when he surrendered,
because he showed right there
that he had no power,
that he wasn't above reproach,
and that he was
just like any other citizen.
And he'd have
to settle his score with justice.
CIVIL POLICE
SPECIALIZED POLICE DEPARTMEN
[man] Are you diminishing
the reports made by those women?
Mr. John denies being guilty
of those accusations.
And, as time goes by, we will be certain
of what really happened.
I have declared, and reaffirm now,
that things that allegedly
took place 30 years ago
are being brought up just now.
These are serious accusations,
but that women
went back there one, two, or three times.
So, in respect for the people,
to these very women,
we must investigate
and judge facts very carefully.
[man] This case came into my hands
by means of a judicial authority
of Brasília.
She called me and said,
"There is a bomb going off
because of a story on Bial's show."
ALBERTO TORON
JOHN OF GOD'S COUNSEL
"There will be a special show about it."
"I know this man, I like him a lot,
he's like a father to me,
and I need you to defend him."
At first, as far as I remember,
there were four reports.
Suddenly, there were 12.
Then they jumped from 12 to 20,
then to a hundred.
And it spread, as if it went viral.
I think that among so many people,
there could be some profiteers.
Woman profiteers, I mean.
CIVIL POLICE
OFFICE OF WOMEN'S AFFAIRS
[woman] It's wonderful
to see our society evolving,
when we have a woman
leading an investigation of sex crimes.
It's like women are getting justice
for one another.
PAULA MEOTTI
POLICE CHIEF
Because of the investigation
of the sex crimes,
KARLA FERNANDES
POLICE CHIEF
and of some reports we had received,
we issued search warrants.
Even though he was already in jail,
we conducted these warrants
with the presence of his lawyer,
who attended all of our searches.
All of his houses had many secret places.
And he was a hoarder.
He had too many objects.
[woman] Should we seize this? Should we?
About half of the drawers in the house
had some kind of false bottoms.
You take an elevator
that should just go up,
but you can activate it in some way
for it to go down to a panic room.
[man] Now pull it.
Put some pressure. That's it.
- [woman] Great, guys.
- [woman 2] Let's open it now.
[man] We'll need to go down.
- [woman] In John of God's house.
- [woman 2] There's a basement!
[woman] There's a basement.
Check this out.
- [man] Let's go down.
- [woman 2] Keep the camera on.
[man] The first to go down.
- [woman] There a safe?
- [man 2] There's a safe.
[man] The police found six guns,
one with the serial number filed off.
[woman] In total, the police seized
around $1.6 million reais
and more than 100 pieces of jewelry,
such as emeralds.
[woman] I was one of the people
who didn't know about Abadiânia,
even being from Goiás.
It's because Abadiânia's a small town
in the countryside of Goiás
with about 20,000 people.
When this case blew up,
the whole newsroom engaged
SARAH TEÓFILO
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
on a mega-operation
to cover John of God's case.
It mobilized
all the departments in the newspaper.
So, I went to Abadiânia
and tried to find out about
the existing relationship between the Home
the city, and the people.
I would talk to people
about these reports of sexual abuse
and ask what they thought of it,
if they'd heard anything about it.
People were very reticent,
especially in the beginning.
Or they would say, "I don't know."
Or, "I'm sure these are all lies."
Or even, "I'd rather be quiet
because he's too powerful."
I heard that many times.
In the area of the city
where the Home was located,
the stores, massage parlors,
all had a sign that said,
"Approved by the Entity"
in English and Portuguese.
I'd go to the posadas and ask,
"Is this posada approved by the entity?"
They would say,
"Yes, it's approved by the entity."
Another thing that called my attention
was that the face of John of God
was displayed on the taxis.
By the entrance of the Home,
there weren't any street vendors.
And that was a place
that attracted many people.
And we're in Brazil, so how come
there were no street vendors there?
I asked Chico Lobo,
John of God's right-hand man, about that.
He said, "We try to keep it under control,
otherwise it becomes a mess."
And then I realized that the control
exceeded the gates of the Home.
[Wagner]
Can you imagine seeing 3,000 people
turn into 30, 50, 100 people
all of a sudden?
JARDEL WAGNER
VOLUNTEER AT THE HOME
It's sad.
[Homercher] It was painful to see him
just disappear like it happened.
I felt short of breath
when he was arrested.
ANGELA HOMERCHER
VOLUNTEER AT THE HOME
It felt like I was losing my father.
Yes.
Congratulations!
Happy birthday to you ♪
Happy birthday to you ♪
[Kist] We liked and trusted him.
Okay? I still trust him.
There are these people
who practice heresy.
NORBERTO KIS
VOLUNTEER AND HOSTEL OWNER
They confuse the man with the entity.
Do you understand?
He's done many good deeds
that need to be appreciated.
But this doesn't stop him from committing
those things he wanted to do.
JULY 24, 2019
SEVEN MONTHS AFTER THE ARRES
[man] The defense team
of the Medium João Teixeira de Faria
announced they have left the case.
Alberto Toron, his lawyer,
informed that the team of nine specialists
will cease acting
as the medium's defense lawyers.
[man] When the main team
of defense lawyers gave up on the case,
João immediately contacted us
and we took over
in all the civil and criminal actions
that involved the case
of João Teixeira de Faria.
ANDERSON VAN GUALBERTO
JOHN OF GOD'S COUNSEL
The previous team,
and I can absolutely guarantee this,
is among the ten best
law offices in the country.
To be honest,
I left this case with a heavy heart.
I was feeling really sad.
In fact, he suffered
an economic strangulation.
[woman] The justice has seized
John of God's possessions,
that are worth $50 million reais,
at the request
of the public prosecutor's office.
I don't work for free.
I endured the expenses as long as I could
until I couldn't continue
doing that anymore.
I won't give up on John of God's case
in any possible way.
I'll go until the end.
I'll go to the Supreme Court.
I'll go to the Hague,
to the Inter-American court
of Human Rights.
I'll go wherever I have to.
I won't drop the case.
If my clients say,
"I don't want your services anymore,"
it won't matter.
I'll continue on the case.
In the name of the women of Brazil.
In the name of the decency of Brazil.
In the name of our dignity,
in the name of a better country.
I'll go wherever I have to.
We are heading there today to talk to him.
We usually go two or three times a week.
We update him on the procedural details
and on the whole situation in general.
[woman] Going down.
Poor man. Just to give you an idea,
right in the beginning,
a few days after his arrest
MARCOS LARA
JOHN OF GOD'S COUNSEL
at a certain time, they turn off
all the lights in the penitentiary.
In the cells, in the corridors
of his specific penitentiary.
And João screamed in fear.
He was really scared of this dark place.
He fell off the bed several times.
His cellmate told me,
"It's unbearable sometimes."
"I have to put my mattress
next to his bed,
and lie down holding his hands
so he can calm down."
"Otherwise, he gets crazy."
Then we had to insist on asking them
to leave at least the bathroom lights on
to make him feel better
and less distressed.
[woman] João Teixeira de Faria,
77 years old, had a medical evaluation
PRISON COMPLEX
at the detention center in Goiânia.
The medical report stated that he is
in good heath, but that's not true.
He's with other inmates
and it's nothing new
that inmates in Brazil
are treated like animals.
They just get food and that's it.
They're locked in and fed and that's it.
Nothing else.
Especially in a maximum-security prison
where he is.
Nobody goes in.
[woman] Dressed in white,
people arrived
at the Home of Don Ignatius, in Abadiânia,
holding signs.
Employees at the Spiritist Center
and tourists staged a demonstration
to support John of God.
Give light for those seeking truth.
I don't believe those reports.
We worked there
and we've never heard anything.
CHICO LOBO
MANAGER OF THE HOME
So, I'm just waiting for the facts.
The police performed
a search and seizure operation
at Home of Don Ignatius of Loyola,
where the medium's appointments
used to take place.
[woman] With a search and seizure warrant,
the team examined the site
and visited the room where the medium
had his private appointments.
I don't know if it's six,
eight months, nine, ten months?
So, last year, there were curtains here?
Yes, there were
some curtains here sometimes.
But it was actually used as a room for
But, uh, yes, there were curtains here.
- He'd come to this room for?
- [Lobo] To meditate, yeah.
- And here's the bathroom?
- [Lobo] That's right.
He used to shower in there.
It's got his clothes and everything.
When we got there,
the person in charge was Chico Lobo.
He knew about everything.
"Where's the key to that door?"
He'd go get it.
"Where's that place?"
He joined us through the whole visit.
[Teófilo] Yes, Chico Lobo
was a local politician.
He'd already served as a councilman
and vice mayor.
He'd been working with John for 14 years.
I remember Chico Lobo
telling me something interesting
when I asked him about the ownership
of a charter plane
that had picked John up in São Paulo
and taken him to Anápolis.
"He had many friends."
"They send planes
to pick him up wherever he wants."
"I can book a plane
for John in ten minutes."
[Brito] I was devastated.
SILENCE IS A PRAYER
I needed to talk
to someone that was rational enough.
Who was capable of giving me an answer.
Because, unfortunately, I won't be able
to get anything from this man.
And I thought I needed to talk
to someone who is in charge of the Home.
This right-hand man named Chico.
Chico
Lobo.
I went to talk to Chico and said,
"Look, this is what happened."
"I was sexually abused
and I came here
in search of a treatment to get pregnant."
"I had faith in my heart.
I believed in it."
"But then those things happened."
I recorded this dialogue.
It's on my cell phone.
You want to talk about it?
It's very, very serious.
Of course.
He molested me physically.
Not only physically.
Emotionally, too. He took advantage of me
while I was vulnerable.
When you come to this world,
which is the opposite of all you know,
you must try to understand it better.
I'm trying to explain the facts.
I'm not taking sides.
- Okay.
- Never.
Here's the thing, it may have happened.
Look into the biggest mediums in Brazil.
You'll find some interesting facts.
They get this kind of radiation
we're not exposed to.
It's instinct. There's human instinct,
and there's energy instinct.
There's no explanation for this.
We can't rationalize something like that.
Things cannot go on this way.
You must be held accountable, too.
- Yes, we're all here.
- Big responsibility.
I could speak up and put an end to it all.
- After all that happened.
- What I'm saying is Calm down.
That's all I ask.
Do something about it. I'll come back.
I'll come back, you hear me?
We were constantly talking
with Chico Lobo.
Our goal was
that he tell us everything he knew
or that he had access to.
This was our goal.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out.
CHICO LOBO DIES IN ANÁPOLIS,
THE RIGHT HAND OF MEDIUM JOHN OF GOD
I was shocked
when I heard about his death.
CHICO LOBO DIES IN ANÁPOLIS
CHICO LOBO,
MANAGER OF HOME OF DON IGNATIUS, DIES
[Brito] I left the Home and thought,
"What else can I do?"
I needed to go to a police station.
I needed to warn the city
about what had just happened.
When I got to the precinct,
I told them everything.
And again,
there was no surprise
whatsoever with what I was saying.
I remember the chief of police,
who was a woman,
saying there was nothing she could do.
The sexual abuse itself,
the physical abuse itself,
wasn't what really hurt me.
What really hurt me
was realizing that it wouldn't stop there.
I received information that someone
had reported him to the police
in a similar case in Goiânia.
The first thing I did
was visit the Court of Appeals website
and type some keywords:
"João Teixeira de Faria," "John of God."
And I found a final judgment from 2013
in which a 16-year-old girl claimed
to be abused by him.
She got in his room with her father
and he ordered both
of them to close their eyes.
And he caressed her breasts,
belly, bottom, and crotch.
A 16-year-old girl then.
He asked her father to turn his back
on them and never open his eyes.
The judge said,
"Although we can say the victim
was vulnerable
because of her panic-syndrome condition,
it does not explain why she did not react
against the grim actions of the defendant
because she was not alone in the room."
"The acts of the defendant,
when disregarding the ethical principles
that guide the doctrine of Alan Kardec,
were immoral, but do not characterize
sexual violation
by means of fraud for the absence
of the essential elements."
[Meireles] The trauma doesn't end.
She keeps revisiting the whole situation.
Over and over.
And there are
a great number of people who say,
"I've never been the same again."
"Mr. João Teixeira ruined my life."
"I can't be in a relationship."
"I'm still on psychological support
15, 20 years later."
[Araújo] My mom and me.
- [woman] Your graduation?
- [Araújo] No, it was an event I promoted.
- And this?
- It was last year.
- At the wedding.
- [woman] One of the weddings.
This was in 2010,
the year I went to Abadiânia.
MARCIA AVILA
REJANE'S PARTNER
This is when you came
to rescue me in Salvador.
I say she went to rescue me
because we had just started dating.
So she literally won me over
when she went there
even though I was sick and overweight.
Look at the difference, Marti.
This photo is from 2010,
when I was there in Abadiânia, right?
And this was two years later.
Yes, this one's in 2013.
That is me. Can you tell?
I really did turn into another person.
Two years after
what happened in Abadiânia,
I weighed almost 220 pounds.
I went from 136 to 220 pounds.
I had diabetes, muscle aches,
hip pain.
I was completely ill.
I was so hidden inside myself
that I couldn't recognize me anymore.
When I met people, it was absurd.
I told myself,
"This is not me. I'm not like this."
And this led to serious psychological
and psychosomatic issues
in my personal life,
but especially in my professional life.
And still, up to this day,
I can't see myself.
I can't see the Rejane I used to be.
Light, free.
There was a Rejane
before Abadiânia and the Rejane now.
[Mannelli] On the days
that preceded my formal statement,
I began to refine
the details that came to my mind
and I was supported by lawyer,
Mrs. Luiza Eluf.
First of all, you breathe and think.
You're not in a rush to talk.
If you feel like the judge is rushing you,
LUIZA ELUF
ATTORNEY OF THE SURVIVORS
If he says,
"No, this part I understand," you say,
"No, I need to explain
this part very well to you, sir."
"Because if I can't do it now,
I won't be able
to explain it to anyone else."
[Mannelli] I've never accepted
the fact that this man is out there.
But why did it take you
so long to report him?
[Mannelli] I heard about other victims.
That's it.
"Because I felt encouraged."
"Because I saw many people
telling the same story,
I felt confident to report him as well."
[woman] And even aware of the abuse,
you decided to go back there
and take the risk of being abused again?
[Mannelli] Yes, because of my mother.
I thought it was part of the treatment.
Because he said
that was part of the treatment
and because it was for my mom.
I'm talking about my mom here.
Not my neighbor, not my aunt
from the other side of the world.
It's my mom who's ill.
Do you have any idea
how it feels to lose your mom?
You would do anything for your mom.
[Mannelli] We know
that the defense is formed by men.
They can try
and make me feel uncomfortable, like,
"What did he do, exactly?"
Trying to nitpick.
"What do you mean by 'rape'?"
- [Eluf] "What kind of abuse was it?"
- [Mannelli] "Yes, what kind?"
It's the kind of question
I refuse to answer.
If they ask you to describe,
it's important because it's the only way
of proving it was rape.
That you say exactly what he did.
Don't worry, because judge,
either man or woman,
can't boss you around.
Just say what you feel like saying.
Feel free to cry.
And feel free to cry there too.
No problem whatsoever.
No problem.
It's how it works.
The pain is part of the process,
and it fades away.
Every time you cry,
a little bit of the pain goes away, okay?
[Mannelli] I spent
the whole weekend going over it,
working on my testimony,
focusing on what I can't forget,
fixing some words I'd better change.
When you carry something for nine years,
there's too much energy.
You just wanna give voice to something
you've never been able to.
I started this whole process
and I can't go back.
Now I have to go
through with it until the end.
I wanna be as calm as I can be.
I wanna express everything
that happened to me.
SÃO PAULO COURT OF JUSTICE
MÁRIO GUIMARÃES CRIMINAL COUR
I decided to give my testimony today
because the consequences of a crime
committed years ago still haunt me.
Migraines caused by emotions,
the destruction of my femininity,
because of a trauma
I could never overcome,
are some of the marks I've been carrying.
He stole part of my life, my joy
part of my happiness,
my freedom, and my dignity.
But he did not kill me.
I've learned how to live with that pain,
but not how to heal it.
Since then, all I can think of
is how I can bring justice
and send him where he belongs: jail.
I believe that,
as far as the sex crimes are concerned,
there is no way out.
They'll find him guilty.
Unfortunately, it will take some time
for them to give us their final decision,
but I believe that you, Andrea,
will play an important role
in all this transformation in Brazil,
in punishing those people.
You're brave and a very bright woman.
You're very confident.
I'm really sorry
for what you've been through,
but I do believe
you'll play a transforming role.
[soft guitar music plays]
My beloved brothers and sisters,
today, on May 22, the Month of Mary,
the month of a huge Mary devotee:
Saint Rita of Cascia.
The great messenger of the mission
our medium is supposed to fulfill.
We are all so glad
to receive working with us,
our sister Dalva, Mr. John's daughter.
For the first time in my life.
And there's no one more appropriate
to offer those carnations
in the name of all of us.
DALVA TEIXEIRA DE SOUSA
JOHN OF GOD'S DAUGHTER
[Dalva] The first memories I have
before meeting my father are from Itapaci.
My brother Zezinho and I,
my mother, and my stepfather.
Our lives were simply running around,
grazing cattle, riding horses, sewing,
helping my mom with the crops.
A quiet life, but a good life.
We loved each other very much,
praise to God.
Then, he came out of thin air.
My mom came to my room and said,
"Come and meet your father."
I was nine years old.
And he told my mom
that he would come
and pick us within a week
to send us to school
so we could be educated.
- Do you remember this photo?
- [woman] I remember.
- [Dalva] Where did we take it?
- [woman] It was in Itapaci.
Your dad was still married with my mom.
Also it was when your father
took you guys from my mom's house.
FÁTIMA GONÇALVES
DALVA'S HALF SISTER
- Was it?
- Yes, it was at that time
when I cried my heart out
asking to have you back.
You know the only thing I resent
towards my mom, Fátima?
The fact that she let him
take us from her.
Especially because she knew who he was.
But I guess she believed
he would send us to school and raise us.
- That's what he said, right?
- Yes. That's what he said.
But it went down differently,
right, Fátima?
It was a different world for us.
I looked at my father and said,
"What a handsome man!"
I looked at him and thought,
"He is a prince."
But later I started watching
how he behaved.
He was as good as he was evil.
And it was always like that.
He had a different kind
of care towards me.
He was very jealous.
He wouldn't let me have any friends.
[John] People are waiting for the cake.
[Dalva] The employees had
to take them and pick them up from school.
I couldn't have a friend visit me
because he wouldn't let me.
And it was always like this.
When I was nine, almost ten,
that's when he abused me
for the first time.
IF YOU KNOW A VICTIM OF VIOLENCE OR ABUSE
AND NEED HELP TO FIND RESOURCES
VISIT WWW.WANNATALKABOUTIT.COM