Psychic 'sexually assaulted woman during healing session', court told

A psychic who claimed he could draw out bad spirits 'sexually assaulted' his female client during a 'spiritual healing session', a court was told.

Pete MacDonald, 77, is said to have gained the woman's trust with a tarot card reading before she returned for a psychic healing session.

It is alleged that MacDonald, who was wearing a kaftan – an ankle length garment with long sleeves common in the Middle East - got her to lie on his bed, take off her top and then ran his hands up and down her body.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims she was sexually assaulted by MacDonald and that he touched her breasts and put his hand down her underwear.

The court heard how the woman, who 'trusted' him 'entirely', by the end of the incident had 'temporarily lost her ability to think straight'. 

MacDonald has been judged fit to stand trial and instead the jury undertake a fact-finding exercise to decide if he 'did the acts'. 

MacDonald's website claims he is one of the world's leading psychics with more than 30 years' experience and the 'person other spiritual teachers consult when they themselves need guidance.'

Prosecuting, Paul Fairley, prosecuting, told Bournemouth Crown Court that the woman first went to see MacDonald for her tarot cards to be read at his home in Shaftesbury, Dorset.

He said: 'Whatever answers he came up with, it resonated very closely with [the complainant] to the point very quickly she trusted him. He could tell things, know things, about her.

'When it was suggested, she come back in the future for a psychic healing she was quite excited about the prospect.'

Mr Fairley said she returned with her sister on August 29, 2021, and again had her cards read.

He said: 'Once again he got it right, hitting the nail on the head with things she had in her past. She got very upset during the course of the reading. He said this would all be made better with the healing session.

'She thought he is a bit eccentric, he was dressed in a kaftan, was a bit sweary and using provocative language and she talked herself out of doing anything about that.'

Mr Fairley said that when it was time for the healing session, he led her to his bedroom, told her to take off her top and lie face down.

He said: 'Although she had her anxieties about that, she thought it's no different to having a massage.

'That changed to him asking her to flip over onto her back and unbutton her shorts.

'He lay next to her on the bed, got some oil and began to draw out the bad spirits, starting with her face and down over her body.

'The drawing of the fingers turned into his fingers going into her mouth. He told her to use her tongue a lot, that it would help to draw out the bad spirits.'

Mr Fairley told the court at this point MacDonald sexually assaulted the woman, who 'entirely trusted' him, by touching her inappropriately multiple times on her breasts and then between her legs.

He added as a result of the incident 'she had temporarily lost her ability to think straight.'

The woman told her sister and boyfriend what had happened and reported the incident to police shortly after, the court heard.

When interviewed MacDonald said what she described had not happened. He said he may have touched her breasts inadvertently, but his fingers were not inside her underwear and did not touch her private parts.

MacDonald is not present at Bournemouth Crown Court, after two experts found, he was not fit to stand trial.

A jury will not be asked whether to find him guilty or not guilty but undertake a fact-finding exercise to decide if he 'did the acts'.

Judge Robert Pawson told the jury: 'He is not fit to stand trial, so we can't have a trial in the usual way. You will not be asked to find whether he is guilty or not guilty.

'There is an important public interest in establishing through a jury whether or not you're sure Mr MacDonald did the act. Your focus is not on the defendant's state of mind, just simply whether he did the act.'

The trial continues.