London sex slavery case: Fantasy novels inspired daughter 'locked up by Maoist cult leader for 30 years'

She was encouraged to believe that her father was immortal and had to be worshipped like a god

An artist’s impression of Aravindan Balakrishnan in the dock at Southwark Crown Court. His daughter is shown giving evidence by videolink (Julia Quenzler)

A woman who claimed to have been imprisoned for 30 years in a communist cult headed by her charismatic father was inspired to rebel by the heroes of fantasy novels, a court has heard.

Aravindan Balakrishnan claimed to have control over the universe from the sanctuary of his south London commune and encouraged his young daughter to read the adventures of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a guide to the extent of his mystical powers, a jury was told.

She was encouraged to believe that her father was immortal and had to be worshipped like a god, Southwark Crown Court heard. His daughter – giving evidence for the first time yesterday – said that the novels had the opposite effect and encouraged her to fight against his control.

As she read the books as a teenager, she came to believe that her father and his followers were like the evil Voldemort and his loyal Death Eaters from the Harry Potter stories, or Sauron and his Black Riders from Tolkien’s epic fantasy trilogy, the jury heard.

Talking about Lord Of The Rings, she added: “He said it was like himself. He said [about the third book ] The Return of the King, that when he takes over the world it will be like Aragorn in Lord Of The Rings coming to Middle Earth, destroying Sauron.

“I suppose in his mind Sauron was like America and the West. He would get rid of them, there would be a war and he would destroy them.

“In the books I found I was like Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins – a little person without any power, fighting against this Dark Lord, this invincible Dark Lord who has over-reaching powers and you can in no way fight against him.”

She said that she dubbed the commune – which moved from house to house across London – “the Black Tower” because in The Lord of the Rings it was described as “the house of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured”. That is how I felt living in that house”.

The prosecution says that Mr Balakrishnan, 75, was a powerful speaker who created a communist collective in the 1970s but as his political powers waned, he enforced his control over a small group of women-only followers by brainwashing and manipulation.

He is accused of raping two women, child cruelty and imprisoning his daughter until she left the house in 2013 after 30 years of mind control, beatings and intimidation.

Mr Balakrishnan is alleged to have claimed to have mystical powers and anyone that opposed him would be killed.

The woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – told the court that Mr Balakrishnan was a Maoist revolutionary before going on to claim that the Chinese leader was a “criminal” when she was aged six. He claimed that he had been lucky to survive an attack by Mao using a death ray fired from a taxi meter.

As part of her act of rebellion, she adopted two imaginary friends – Churchill and Mao – because he hated the two historical figures.

The court has heard that Mr Balakrishnan never confirmed that she was his daughter. She also only learnt the identity of her mother – who died after falling from an upper floor of one of their houses following a mental breakdown – on leaving the house. An inquest found that her death was an accident.

Mr Balakrishnan, of Enfield, north London, denies the charges.

The case continues.