This just in from Australia: “A leading psychologist, accused of using a bulimic client for his own sexual gratification, was found whipping her with a cat o’ nine tails when police stormed his clinic following a covert operation.
In extraordinary visual and audio footage played to Perth District Court yesterday, police officers are seen bursting into Bruce Beaton’s office after the crack of a whip is repeatedly heard.
Mr Beaton, 64, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting and humiliating the 22-year-old woman at his Fremantle office in 2005.
The police sting involved the woman wearing a bug and placing a secret camera in her handbag. Telephone conversations between the pair were also secretly recorded.
The woman, now 24, was seen on the footage having a dog collar placed around her neck. Later, Mr Beaton tells her “I made a special whip for you”.
At one stage, Mr Beaton tells her they have work to do before moving on to other activities. “Work first, play after,” Mr Beaton said. He later tells her that he loves her and asks if she wants to be his submissive.
“I think you’re delicious and sometimes I’m going to have a taste of you because you’re my submissive,” Mr Beaton says to her.
After asking if it will help her bulimia, Mr Beaton can be heard saying no, but that it would be him enjoying her.
After the “special whip” is retrieved, police officers, waiting outside the clinic, are seen storming the room after hearing the whipping noises.
The court has previously been told that Mr Beaton told her wearing a dog collar and being hit with a metal coathanger were part of a new treatment for bulimia.
She said police had given her a code word to use if she felt uncomfortable during the sting. But she said she froze after stepping into the room and had forgotten to use the word. Under cross-examination, she said she had used a wide variety of drugs and had been involved in violent relationships.
She admitted sending Mr Beaton text messages, which she deleted from her phone before giving it to police.
In one she said: “I wish we could have a whole day and night, master, I’ll do anything, I promise.”
She denied she was fixated on her psychologist. But she explained the message by saying she was on dexamphetamines. “I wouldn’t do this straight,” she said.
She also denied suggestions by defense counsel Jeremy Scudds that she attended a therapy session dressed as a Croatian peasant girl or that she had walked around as a geisha for three days. The trial continues today.
