The Irish Times, Tuesday, 10 june,
1997
Sect gets injunction to keep
family off property
By Andy Pollak
The Church of Scientology has obtained a British High Court injunction against members of the Fortune family from Co Wexford to stop them entering any of the sect's properties in Britain.
The family, which says its son Odhrán (24), has been brainwashed by the Scientologists, yesterday mounted a picket on the sect's Dublin office with about 25 friends and neighbours. In a telephone interview on RTÉ's Pat Kenny Show, Mr Odhrán Fortune said he had left the family home in Gorey without warning nine days ago because he felt detained by his family, who "were threatening to sue the church and that they would go to the media".
He had been with his family for five months after spending the previous three-and-a-half years with the Scientologists in Britain and Denmark.
He said that while in Gorey several anti-Scientology "deprogrammers" had come to his home to make his family "afraid of the church" and to try to make him cut off all contact with it.
He said he left so suddenly, in the company of two Scientologists from Dublin, because he was "desperate to get back to the life I wanted to lead". He is believed to be staying at a property owned by the sect in south-east England.
At the picket in Dublin yesterday, Mr Fortune's brother Diarmuid said that he, together with his father, mother, another brother and other relatives, had visited the sect's headquarters last Friday in a vain search for Odhrán. Eventually they had been allowed by the Scientologists to have brief meetings with him in the toilet and corridor of the High Court in London, he said.
Asked by Pat Kenny why they had met in the High Court, Odhrán said it was because it was "a secure area, with security at each door". He gave a similar answer - "I don't feel secure enough to meet you" - when asked why he would not do an interview with Pat Kenny or an RTÉ reporter at a neutral venue.
Mr Diarmuid Fortune said the family wanted their brother to know they loved him and were "always here for him". Noting that at their meetings in London Odhrán kept asking them to "call off the media", he went on: "My brother needs the media to expose the truth about Scientology and keep the pressure up until he is sent back."
The High Court injunction forbids five named members of the Fortune family, including his mother and father, from entering the sect's Sussex headquarters, coming within 200 metres of it, or entering any other premises owned by the Scientologists.
In a press statement, the Church of Scientology said members of the Fortune family had "pushed their way" into the Scientology church at East Grinstead, and dis- rupted religious services before being escorted off the premises by the police.
The Star (Ireland), Tuesday June 10 1997, page 15
FREE MY SON
Distraught relatives picket religious sect's headquaters
[byline: Olivia Doyle]
Mum begs son to leave cult
[Large Picture: Picketers bearing signs, including "DIANETICS _IS_ SCIENTOLOGY. DON'T BE FOOLED". Three figures in the foreground. Caption: PLEASE COME HOME: Ann and Joe Fortune with son Diarmuid protest outside the cult's headquarters in Abbey Street, Dublin. PIC: Jim Walpole. ]
The shaken mother of Scientologist Odhran Fortune yesterday begged her son to leave the cult. Anne Fortune joined with almost 40 relatives and friends to picket the sect's Irish HQ on Dublin's Middle Abbey Street. Carrying a placard saying: "Free My Son," Mrs Fortune said whe was "shattered" by his involvement with the so-called "church". The family do not believe Odhran, (24) went to London with cult member last week of his own free will. And Anne, a hairdresser, said her youngest son had "changed completely" since first joining the sect more than three years ago. She said she didn't recognise him when he came home to Gorey, Co Wexford last Christmas. "I didn't know how to greet him - he looked like a skeleton," she told The Star. "He has become very introverted now when he was a very extrovert person. "He came home with #1,500 of Scientology books and manuals - these were to be our Christmas presents." Anne strongly refuted Odhran's claims on radio that she and her husband Joe had threatened to sue the Church of Scientology. "I was shocked to hear that- the word "sue" has never even been mentioned," said the distraught mum-of-four. "I feel these people have done quite a lot of damage to the family." Mrs Fortune said she did not believe her son was "himself" when he spoke on RTE radio yesterday. "He is primed to the limit- he is not the Odhran that we know and love."
Forced
She and other relatives travelled to the cult's luxurious Sussex HQ last week to see Odhran. But they were forced to wait hours before being allowed a 15-minute meeting with him in a High Court toilet back in London. "We were treated very badly," said Anne, "They kept interrupting while we tried to talk to him." Odhran's brother Diarmuid, (30) urged the Government to follow the German government's decision last week to monitor the Church of Scientology. "Odhran is being made out to be a liar but that's not my brother, he is a pawn in all of this." Odhran said on RTE radio yesterday that he was not being "programmed" by the "church".
[Picture: smiling young man. Caption: "Brainwashed": According to Odhran Fortune's mum before he joined the cult he was a normal lad enjoying a boating holiday, relaxing at home, sharing a joke with a friend but he has completely changed and has become very introverted. ]
[Three other small pictures with no captions- difficult to see on my photocopy, but at least one is definitely of Odhran.]
I'M HAPPY
Odhran Fortune yesterday laughed off claims that he was "brainwashed" by Scientologists and said he was "happy" to be back with the cult. The 24-year-old's family say he was abducted by sect members from his Co Wexford workplace last week. But Odhran said there had been "so much lies and falsity" spread by people about his "church". A Scientologist for more than three years, he said the sect offered "a lot of solutions and answers to very practical problems of everyday living." He also said he hoped for reconciliation with his family and did not blame them for their handling of the situation. Odhran spoke by 'phone to RTE's Pat Kenny but said he did not feel secure enough to do a face-to-face interview.
MEGA STARS USED AS BAIT
The Church of Scientology is a cult which has found favour with many showbiz stars. Famous followers include heartthrob actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Tom's actress wife Nicole Kidman, Cheers star Kirstie Alley and Demi Moore are also Scientologists. Even cartoon favourite Bart Simpson -alias actress Nancy Cartwright who does Bart's voice -is a believer.
[Picture: Nicole Kidman. Caption: BELIEVER: Nicole]
But the big names on the books of this "church" are believed to be bait for vulnerable young people. Cruise and Kidman alone are reported to have handed up to #50m to the sect.
You can email us at free_odhran@hotmail.com