A family of circus performers have revealed who wrongly accused them of evil sex crimes against children that saw them imprisoned for seven months.
Seven members of the Cook family – who ran a troupe in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains – were in 2018 charged with 127 crimes for allegedly running a child sex ring at their circus school.
Therese Cook-Williams, 60, her 54-year-old brother Paul Cook, her daughters Yyani, 35, and Clarissa, 25, their relatives Lachie and Lucy and one other woman were all cleared of any wrongdoing in Penrith Local Court two years later in February 2020.
The allegations included rape, assault, kidnapping, participation in bizarre ‘blood rituals’ and the outrageous claim Therese bit down into the penis of one of the boys before using her teeth to pick him off the ground.
Members of the family were kept in custody for as long as 206 days before being granted bail.
Pictured: Yyani Cook-Williams
Therese Cook-Williams on Sunday night revealed the accusations that tore her family apart were made by an estranged relative and her husband who are members of an extreme religious sect.
Police raided Therese and Paul’s homes in September 2017, and the shocked grandmother sent an extended family member a text to warn police may pay her a visit.
But the woman wrote back indicating she was the source of the allegations that claimed the family had repeatedly sexually and physically abused her young children when they visited Theresa’s home.
‘I thought, this can’t be real,’ Therese told 60 Minutes.
Police interviewed the children 27 times over three years, with the children repeatedly making accusations.
‘[Theresa] would carry around a rope like to tie us up and a needle to prick us with. Yani hammered sticks around me,’ one of the boys told detectives.
Therese Cook-Williams was told she could be facing 25 years to life behind bars after being falsely accused with being the ringleader of a child sex ring
What seemed like innocent handheld video was used by police to argue falsely the family were sexually abusing young children
‘Theresa was holding me down. They would let the blood drip into a bowl then make me drink it while Paul would take pictures and videos.’
In a diary, the mother would record notes of the alleged abuse after eliciting false confessions from her sons.
‘Got hammer, brought out penis and banged penis with hammer,’ one entry read.
‘She hit his neck with a stick then put a bit of the stick down his throat.’
Therese said she did not realise during the early stages of the investigation that the allegations were coming from within her family.
Paul assured her the police would determine it was all ‘nonsense’ during the course of their investigation.
But five months later the innocent family were arrested, separated and thrown into prison, despite police having no physical evidence, DNA, or signs of injury from the alleged crimes.
Clarissa Meredith on Sunday night revealed the extreme lengths police went to in a bid to get her to confess to offences she did not commit
Clarissa Meredith said police went to such lengths to find evidence against her they even enlisted a detective who she had dated to try and get a confession.
The junior policeman was wearing a wire and Clarissa said she had no idea her conversations with him were being recorded.
‘I think a month had passed or so without any contact between me and him and then out of nowhere I get this text [saying] “can we start seeing each other again”,’ she said.
‘I thought it would be fine. The police would not stoop to this level of getting a cop who used to date me to interrogate me – that wouldn’t happen.’
Clarissa denied involvement in any sex crimes against children when questioned by the informant.
‘I did like him and I did trust him – it just adds an extra level of betrayal. The entire night was wired,’ she said.
The family on Sunday also addressed footage police used to allege they were running a paedophile ring.
One short and seemingly innocent handheld video showed two young children enjoying themselves with Yyani and Therese on a set of playground equipment.
Even though the clip showed nothing untoward, police wrongly alleged that on the same day the footage was filmed, Yyani forced the children to perform sexual acts on each other.
‘I didn’t understand how they could see the boys so happy and normal and believe they’ve just gone through these really horrific experiences,’ Yani said.
In March 2019, one of the boys who claimed he was a victim of the family wrote a letter to his mother admitting he had lied about being sexually assaulted.
But it later came to light she omitted his revelation during discussions with police and was using unconventional methods to make her children open up about the ‘abuse’.
‘My relative kept her son in a bedroom for two hours and kept asking ‘”whose hurt you, whose hurt you”,’ Therese said.
Yyani Cook-Williams was granted bail in August 2018 following her arrest in February of that year
Yani added: ‘She was going to each of the kids and coercing them, and not leaving them alone.’
But by that point the three women had spent seven months in prison – with Therese told she could be facing 25 years to life behind bars.
For Clarissa, three weeks of her incarceration were in a cold solitary confinement cell where the lights always stayed on.
‘You couldn’t sleep. It was freezing. And you can hear the guards talking about you. They call you names and threaten you: “you’re going to be raped in here. You’re going to be bashed”,’ she said.
Therese, who was the accused ringleader, said her greatest distress were the death threats.
‘I was scared of being killed,’ she said.
‘I was just told when I was arrested that I’d be in prison for 25 years to life.’
All allegations against the family were false, with the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrawing all 127 charges, but the family was forced to hear them in court as the case played out in the public eye.
‘I still get scared. Very, very scared,’ Ms Cook said.
‘I don’t think I’m broken. I think I’m different. I want to be resilient. I don’t know how my life will be. I still get scared – very, very scared.’
NSW Police stood firm in their prosecution of the family and criticised the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for deciding there were ‘no reasonable prospects’ of safe convictions.
‘As this position was strongly opposed by the NSW Police Force, Strike Force Baillieu investigators remain ready for the matter to proceed through court should the decision be made to prosecute,’ police previously told Daily Mail Australia.
Yyani Cook-Williams pictured left after she was released on bail from Silverwater Correctional Facility in August 2018
Therese Cook is pictured after an accident
Yyani explained how she repeatedly insisted she was innocent during an initial police interview for ‘what felt like an hour’.
‘I would rather be accused of murder,’ she said.
Paul Cook said he still carries ‘pain, sadness, some days despair’ and added his reputation has been ‘destroyed’ despite all charges being dropped.
He said in prison officers called him an ‘animal’.
‘I was in an empty courtyard. It was away from the other cells. And one of the officers said to me, “You’re an animal. You’re just an animal, you are, and you belong in a cage, and that’s where I’m taking you now. Get in there. And this is the sound that I love, the locking of the door.”‘
Paul said he had only seen the children on two occasions during brief family dinners while their parents were in attendance.
‘The act I allegedly filmed was when Therese bit into a boys penis and picked him up off the ground while biting his penis. Which is completely and utterly implausible,’ he said.
Lachie also spoke of the harrowing moment police raided his home in September 2017 on a warrant that prompted police to closely monitor the family for the next five months.
The family’s relative Lachie said police raided his home in 2019 saying ‘You know why we’re here, you know why we’re here’ despite him having no idea what they were talking about
The family (pictured) all maintained their innocence throughout the ordeal and were finally vindicated after nearly two years of hell
Pictured: The family’s relative Lucy who was also wrongly accused of taking part in child sex abuse
‘They strip-searched me,’ he said. ‘And they kept saying, “You know why we’re here, you know why we’re here.” And I had no idea.’
While imprisoned, Lachie said he was assaulted and bullied by other inmates.
‘They were yelling at me calling me a rapist. Threatening to rape me. There was a lot of harassment,’ he said.
After all charges were dismissed, the family’s defence lawyer Bryan Wrench said the prosecution’s case was weak.
‘Crucial evidence had been overlooked and the police had no leg to stand on,’ he said at the time.
The family are now considering suing NSW Police for compensation.
Mr Wrench reiterated his clients’ innocence, and said he was pleased they could finally be reunited after were separated for the length of the court case as part of their bail conditions.
‘Not one piece of evidence that said our clients were guilty,’ he said. ‘There was just nothing there.
‘There’s one word we’re looking for, and it’s “sorry”. And to date, it’s been two years, and we haven’t heard those words.
‘The public has a right to expect that police will investigate both sides of the story, and if they did that, we wouldn’t be sitting here today.’
This dilapidated home was wrongly alleged to have been involved in the child sex abuse ring
Pictured: The family-run Katoomba circus school
The family’s lawyer Bryan Wrench leaves the Penrith Local Court in February 2018. ‘Not one piece of evidence that said our clients were guilty,’ he said
Mr Wrench said the case was ‘frightening’ because it demonstrated ‘any family in Australia’ could be subjected to injustice.
He added the complainants were being taught aspects of sacrifice in religious studies, which was not looked into by police.
‘These are the people who are in the community doing bank sales or you ring up if you have a flat tyre, and these are the type of people who were charged with these sort of acts,’ he said.
Police falsely alleged in court Therese Cook was the ringleader and organised the ‘systemic rape and detention of the boys’.
She was charged with 43 crimes, including aggravated assault of a child, sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and holding children against their will. All charges were dropped.
Paul Cook was wrongly accused of filming at least one encounter on his mobile phone and three counts of aggravated sexual assault in company.
Meredith, Cook’s adopted daughter, was charged with rape, assaulting two of the boys and depriving a boy of his liberty.
They all maintained their innocence throughout the ordeal and were finally vindicated after nearly two years of hell.
NSW Police called for a review of the decision to withdraw the charges last year, but it was rejected by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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