Diagnosed with
Type 1 diabetes in 1998, Danielle Carr-Gomm had spent the larger part of two decades searching for alternative methods to control her illness.
Struggling to find a treatment that made life more bearable, it was in
July 2016 that she turned to a Paida Lajin workshop – otherwise known as slapping
therapy – run by Californian alternative healer Hongchi Xiao.
Rooted in traditional Chinese
medicine, slapping therapy is described as a self-healing philosophy which involves the patient being slapped or slapping themselves repeatedly, for hours at a time, to rid them of toxins or illnesses.
Despite critics saying it has no scientific basis, 30 “keen disciples” of the defendant, who styled himself as “Master Xiao”, willingly joined his workshop in Cleeve House, Wiltshire, in October of that year.
Among them was 71-year-old Ms Carr-Gomm, who duly signed a disclaimer stating the practice was not “meant for medical treatment” and went on to fast for several days, only consuming Chinese tea.
Desperate to cure her diabetes in a non-conventional way due to her fear of needles, the vegetarian pensioner had previously expressed her admiration for his holistic methods, writing that she foresaw “freedom from years of slavery”.
Despite becoming drastically ill during one of his workshops months earlier,
Xiao congratulated her when she revealed she had stopped taking her insulin, despite being aware of the risks this posed to her health.
In a sinister sign of the power he wielded over her, Ms Carr-Gomm had previously provided a testimonial for Xiao describing him as a “messenger sent by God” who was “starting a revolution to put the power back in the hands of the people to cure themselves and to change the whole system of health care”.
