Man’s Daughter Who Forcefully Kept Women Using Violence n Sexual Abuse Speaks

Waiving her anonymity for the first time to speak, Katy Morgan-Davies explained how her father Aravindan Balakrishnan cruelly deprived her of any contact with the outside world for three decades, and of even knowing which of the cult's members was her own mother.

The daughter of the cult leader who kept women captive for decades using violence, cruelty and sexual abuse has described him as a "narcissistic psychopath ... obsessed with controlling people".

Balakrishnan, who has now been sentenced to 23 years in prison for two counts of cruelty and false imprisonment for his treatment of Ms Morgan-Davies, and for the indecent assault, rape and assault of other women in the cult, kept her a virtual prisoner in the various homes the group occupied around south London.

"My earliest memories are of him being violent towards me and other people in the cult," Ms Morgan-Davies said of Balakrishnan, whom she knew only as "Bala".

"He loved violence, and those totalitarian dictatorships. He wanted to be like that - one of those dictators like Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot.

"(He wanted) everyone to listen to him - if they don't, he can kill them with impunity."

Now aged 32, Ms Morgan-Davies finally escaped from the cult in 2013 after she and two other members were rescued by the police and charities they had contacted after memorising a helpline number they had seen on TV.

Others, who had joined the cult in the 1970s when it was known as "The Workers Institute", had escaped years before - including two who gave evidence against Balakrishnan at his trial.

Two of the women died while living there, including Ms Morgan-Davies' mother Sian Davies, who died after falling from an open window in 1997.

Ms Morgan-Davies, who only discovered her mother's true identity after her death, said one of the saddest parts of her life was the cruelty she experienced at her hands.

Her mother, like the other women in the commune, was encouraged to spy on Ms Morgan-Davies and report to Balakrishnan, often resulting in violent punishment.

"There was no concept of father and mother. (Everyone in the commune) were just all comrades," Ms Morgan-Davies explained.