Faith healer not guilty in actress death
12-06-2009
Faith healer Jomanda has been found not guilty of involvement in the death of actress Sylvia Millecam from breast cancer in 2001.
Judges in Amsterdam said that while Jomanda had supported Millecam's belief that she did not have cancer, the faith healer did not cause her to have that belief. In addition, the judges said, Millecam was under doctors' supervision for the entire time she was ill.
Two alternative doctors Jos K and René B were found guilty of 'injuring [her] health, resulting in severe physical damage', the Volkskrant quoted the judges as saying. The doctors will not face any punishment because of the length of time the case took to come to court and all the media attention, the judges said.
Hospital treatment
Just prior to the trial starting it emerged that Millecam's partner and family had sent an open letter to the queen and health minister Ab Klink saying that Millecam herself was opposed to hospital treatment. She first found a lump in her breast in 1999.
The prosecution service originally decided against a trial because Millecam had turned her back on the mainstream health profession. In total she consulted 28 therapists.
But the opponents of alternative therapies, including the association against quack medicine, went to court themselves to force through legal action.
A spokesman for the association said they were pleased with the ruling. 'This was not about a witch hunt but about establishing clear jurisprudence for the future,' he told Nos tv.
The public prosecution department had called on the court to ban Jomanda from holding healing ceremonies for two years.
© DutchNews.nl