At around 7 years of age, Claire was given over to the custody of her Mother, a Sea Organisation Member, (contracted for One billion years into the cult of Scientology - a fate I had extricated myself from in 1972) by the Family Law Court, and I, her Father, was granted access rights for a half a day per week which was increased to one day per week after I protested.

Somehow Claire's visiting day coincided with my working day. I was a self employed market stall holder at Paddies Market in Sydney's Haymarket; my only earning day of the week. Yet I managed to make it a good day for Claire. For me? Having Claire near me made my day a holi-day. (holy-day)

What crime had I committed?  What had I done to deserve such a situation?  One hears of separations and the battles over children in the courts. One assumes the father or Mother was a criminal or the situation was borne out of domestic violence or sexual misadventure.

But this was illogical, as I had simply turned by back on an intolerable situation; I had finally disowned what I had regarded as a "Church", and a domestic relationship that due to constant cult interference, and its built-in faults, was never going to work. And frankly - I had become a Father with a Mother I should never have met, though at the time, I couldn't resist her charms.

As Janine and I were in a de facto marriage for 6 years ( never legally married, ) the law in New South Wales, (at the time,) referred to Claire as an Ex-Nuptial child. Upon the breakdown of our de facto relationship, under NSW Law, as her Father, I had no rights or claims to our child born "out of marriage". I would have to plead in a court for "Access" as though she was "not related to me in any way". And the whole process took over 18 months during which time I was completely separated from my little girl for the first time in her life. without so much as a phone call.

How could Janine hate so much when I was the guy that rescued her from "a life of drugs" and a fate she would agree was stacked up to "waste her life".... which would mean to her... perhaps never to know of 'The Bridge' that she now holds so precious in this lifetime.

Through government "Legal Aid", I was assigned a solicitor by way of the "Redfern Legal Advice Service". She was a Virgo (astrology) solicitor, and I thought perhaps she would be competent.

During the very short period of time I stood in the Children's Court hearing, I was not given any opportunity to defend myself against the horrendous accusations blurted out in the courtroom by Janine, Claire's Mother, who accused me of "associating with people on drugs" and "running around with loose women" as reasons for denying me access to Claire.

On the second day of court I was refused actually being present in the room for most of the time, I had no idea what was being said or presented about me; against me or not.

My stress levels throughout these court sessions was potentially explosive, but as an "Independent Scientologist" who had left the organisation like thousands of others, I had continued my studies unrestrained by the suppressive "church" and had gained the ability to Solo Audit. This saved me as daily sessions had me arriving at court as calm and composed as a primo uomo.

There was no actual mention of the "Church of Scientology", in court regarding the fact that they had managed to con Janine into signing a Billion Year Contract to the Sea Organisation, with determined recruitment staff deliberately disrupting our relationship knowing well that I was an Ex-Sea Org member who didn't want anything more to do with "being on staff' or rejoining the Sea Org. I certainly didn't want my partner joining the Sea Org, and this topic was not mentioned in court when it was probably the most critical reason why "the Church" wanted to be rid of me. It was certainly the most critical reason why the "church" should never have been allowed to be involved.

I knew that the Sea Organisation had become something I basically feared as potentially harmful to my daughter, with a lifestyle that would take Claire away from me completely, and away from Janine for more than 18 hours a day, seven days a week. I simply wanted a family and success in my chosen career, which was to complete a University Course in Landscape Architecture giving me a qualification that would have been recognised world wide and had the potential for a very secure career. She would have been married to a RICH MAN. (tongue in cheek here)

This interruption by the Sea Org over a period of time disrupted my studies and I failed at the course with a minor bout of panic attacks from the over-all stress and pressure. Sea Org recruiters did this to our de facto marriage without any consultation with me - and against my wishes - and they knew exactly what they were doing too.

I was not given a chance to mention this in court. I was denied access to the court room most of the time while events, still unknown to me, took place behind my back that clearly had an impact on the outcome.

There was no mention of the ultimatum that had been dished out to me, like many other ex-scientologist fathers... "If you don't rejoin the "Church", you will never see your daughter again."

I guess I had been watching too many American TV courtroom dramas and I expected my solicitor (lawyer) to defend me by objecting to such unsubstantiated and inappropriate courtroom behaviour, and by tracking down the facts. I had to "take it on the chin", and so Claire's life was ruined; opportunities lost, and she was not compensated one red cent. (Google it please.)

What those misleading statements uttered by Janine about me "associating with people on drugs" did not reveal, was that I was a trained pastoral counselor from 1969, and this qualification was hard earned as Janine would well know - and a qualification she would expect to receive respect for if it was her qualification in question. I was one of only two Australian students to do the original course held in New Zealand in 1969 to that end.

It is not beyond the scope of my imagination to claim with about a 100% certainty that she had been coached by the staff of the Sea Organisation and the Guardian Office (which had become known as OSA) with the intention: to prevent me from practicing Dianetics or Scientology outside the "Church" against the wishes and demands of the "authority" of the "Church" of Scientology.

Using the knowledge I had gained while a Scientologist for over 20 years on top of that, I was in fact using knowledge similar to what the cult uses in its world wide drug rehab network called Narconon (which I was President of in Sydney for a short while), though I had nowhere near the resources to complete a task as Narconon may have. I had been trained as a counselor and I was using my knowledge, which I had dearly paid for with my money and "blood, sweat and tears", to help someone in dire need - in this case, to get a new found friend off drugs...

However, because it is a knowledge jealously claimed as "a possession" of the cult, though it was part of MY PERSONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, it was deemed that any act levelled against me which would force me to "cease my activities as an ex-scientologist" was a legal scientology act... according to the cults Fair Game Policy - banned by the Government of Australia in 1964. The Australian constitution may have other ideas to add to this.

The truth was far removed from the picture presented by Janine in the courtroom.

Just prior to the start of the court case, I had only recently met the woman, Cleo, through an artist friends of mine. She was very attractive indeed, and I was now a single Father. After a couple of meetings where I was assessing the type of relationship it may have become, she asked me to help her as she was having a hard time with some counselling she was receiving from another ex-scientologist.

This didn't seem such an unusual request, but within the first couple of set-up sessions I discovered she had what she claimed was an alcohol problem, but I quickly found she had not revealed to me or him that she was using certain hard street drugs. In other words, she was what is locally, commonly referred to in America, as a "junky".

I had not known that when I met her, and "my friend" didn't tell me either. It was surprising how well she was able to disguise the fact. When I had drawn attention to her very unusual session behaviour (indicators), she had used the "explanation" of her "being an artist who was a little eccentric"... with a taste for "alcohol". It was her non-standard responses to a couple of sessions that had me probing deeper. to discover she was in fact on hard drugs.

Fat chance I had of having a relationship with her with all the mess in her life. So I had allowed myself to be willing to help this very attractive, poor little rich girl get her life in order and get off "the booze". Well we parted company within a week of my having met her, as I was not equipped to help her and her continuing drug use. I knew she was too much for me.

During the first few days of meeting her I had stayed over night in her section of the very large warehouse style apartment complex with my 5 year old daughter. It had been too late to return home that rainy evening. Both Claire and I had been enjoying the company of other artists in the unusual residence during the afternoon and evening. During the night I totally realised that she was "using" and could see no sign of any intention to do otherwise. So I was glad to be out of there the next day.

Though none of these details were ever revealed to Claire's mother or the court, it was probably from these details Claire's mother had grilled a preferred story out of a 6 or 7 year old Claire, that I was subjected to in the courtroom fiasco.

Recently, I found that Claire had felt very responsible for having communicated "certain details", and it had effected her for many years, believing she had betrayed her Father. No wonder it was so easy to convince her that I had abandoned her.