Longford energy healer found guilty of sexually assaulting a client

A Longford energy healer has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a client by making her place her hands on his groin and breathe heavily, repeating “oh my god” in her head, while moaning and staring into his eyes to “clear sexual blockages” from past sexual abuse.

David Reilly (50), with an address in Longford, appeared before Longford Circuit Court over the past week, where he was tried in front of Judge Kenneth Connolly and a jury of 12 people and found guilty of one count of sexual assault and one count of offensive conduct of a sexual nature in August and September of 2021.

The injured party told prosecution barrister Shane Geraghty and the jury that, in 2020, she was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), more commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and that she had attended Mr Reilly’s practice on the recommendation of a friend.

She attended two appointments with Mr Reilly at Energy Healing Ireland in August of 2021 and said she found the healing helpful and that she was more energetic afterwards.
After her second session, while she had her daughter with her, she said Mr Reilly leaned down to whisper in her ear and asked if she’d ever been “taken advantage of” in the past.

“I said yes. He said he could fix that, but I’d need to come again and come alone. He said I had sexual blockages and that I’d need to come back and clear them through heavy breathing techniques,” she said.
The woman booked a third appointment and attended Energy Healing Ireland on September 2, 2021, on her own.
She said Mr Reilly got her to stand up and “he was standing extremely close” when he asked her to “stare into his eyes and breathe downwards”.

“His voice was getting very stern. I felt like I had to do what he told me to do. He got me to do these deep breaths while staring into his eyes.
“Then he got me to repeat the words ‘happiness’ and ‘oh my god’ in my head,” she said. Mr Reilly then made her put her hands “on his bottom”.

“His face was extremely close. I felt uncomfortable. His voice kept getting louder and louder. Then he got me to make a moaning sound as well. His hands were below my belly button, going lower towards my pubic bone,” she said.
“His tone was getting more and more forceful. He sounded frustrated and annoyed with me and he said I had to relax or it wouldn’t work. Then he made me put my hands on his upper thighs, near his groin area.

“He was trying to get me to move my hands upwards, while breathing deeply and repeating those things in my head and staring into his eyes.
“I felt dizzy and intimidated and sick. He said it won’t work if I don’t do this. It reached the point where my hands reached his groin area and I could feel he had an erection,” the woman recalled, saying she was feeling “sick, confused, fearful and disgusted”, while “frozen” in a state of “disbelief and shock”.

She said she didn’t know what was going on and that she felt “dizzy, exhausted” and in a “cold sweat”.
She felt like she “couldn’t say no” to what he was telling her to do.
When other clients came in the front door, she said Mr Reilly moved her to the sofa, which couldn’t be seen through the window of the consultation room door. He told her to lie down and he continued to rub her lower stomach, telling her she still had “five blockages”.

“He looked into my eyes and asked me what I liked sexually, while he still had my hands at his crotch area. I was too shocked to say, but I told him I liked surprises. I meant in a relationship, not sexually - like flowers and romantic things.
“He said ‘I bet you weren’t expecting this today - this was a surprise’, and he brought me into the darker, back room, where there’s a little kitchen or utility area. He said ‘come on back here’, and got me to face the sink,” she added.

“He pulled my arms behind my back and he said ‘now are you surprised, is this a surprise?’ I felt horrified, extremely exhausted and I was wondering if it was ever going to end. I was disgusted.”
She said it ended because the receptionist waved through the glass on the door once or twice to gesture that other clients were waiting.

Mr Reilly told her she would need another appointment, that it “didn’t work” and that she could book in for any time and he’d “change his schedule around” for her. He also said she could call him any time.
During his cross examination of the witness, Gerard Groarke BL, for the defence, put it to the injured party that Mr Reilly had been receiving treatment for sciatica and erectile dysfunction at a GP practice.

However, later in the trial, following inquiries by investigating member, Detective Garda John Gormally, it was revealed that Mr Reilly was attending a chiropodist for his sciatica, not a GP, and while notes were taken during some treatment sessions regarding erectile dysfunction, the treatment he was receiving was not specifically for that.
Mr Reilly was arrested and questioned by Detective Garda Orla Gilmartin and Detective Garda John Gormally and explained that his work as an energy healer meant he could “lock the aura” and remove negative energy, as well as “channelling” energy into clients.

He told Gardaí that the injured party’s complaints were “lies'' and that he was the victim in the situation. In his second interview he said “I think she’s nuts to be honest, coming in and whinging about stuff all the time”.
He asked when the complainant had reported the incident and, when he was told it was reported a few days after it happened, he said if someone is “used to being sexually abused”, they should report it immediately.

When asked what he meant by “used to being abused”, Mr Reilly said that “according to her, she’s been sexually abused all her life”, adding that if that’s happening “someone isn’t going to be surprised when it happens again”.
He said he could tell the injured party was telling him “lies” about being sexually abused as a child because he could see her energy “going over and back”.

“People’s hormones are sitting on the middle of their shoulders. When there’s a lot going on in that person’s life, I’ll see them moving,” Mr Reilly told Shane Geraghty BL from the witness box.
However, he accepted he was wrong about the injured party’s past abuse. The jury, having heard from a number of witnesses on both the prosecution and defence sides of the room, returned unanimous guilty verdicts on both on the indictment after deliberating for almost three hours.

No application was made to remand Mr Reilly in custody, with a suggestion that he sign on twice weekly and conduct only remote energy healing consultations. However, Judge Connolly said he was “really very, very uncomfortable with that”.
The matter occurred almost three years ago, he said, and the injured party “has been obliged to come to court, give evidence and be subject to a cross-examination”.

“I have rarely witnessed a stranger defence in that I felt I was being transported back to the Victorian era, where it seemed if anyone wore a skirt with a slit or waved through a door would be subject to a sexual assault,” said Judge Connolly.
“I felt Mr Reilly didn’t take the matter at all seriously and the defence at time was farcical.”

Mr Reilly has been remanded in custody to November 5, 2024, when he will reappear for sentence.