AN ELCHE teen lured into joining a fake cult in Perú has been reunited with her father at a shelter for abused women in Lima, and is expected to be able to return to Spain soon with her two-month-old baby daughter.
Patricia Aguilar Poveda went missing on January 7, 2017 just after her 18th birthday and has sinced been traced to a hut in the Peruvian Amazon and her captor, Félix Manrique, 34, was arrested.
She and several other young women were persuaded that they had been chosen by God to repopulate the earth, and were subjected to repeated rape and violence whilst held captive, firstly in an apartment in Lima and later in a perilous part of the world's largest forest.
The other women have several children by the man who claimed to be the leader of the cult known as Gnosis, and Patricia, now 19, has a baby born at the end of May.
Her father Alberto Aguilar travelled to Perú two months ago to help in the search, funding police transport and all the women's and children's flights back to Lima, where they have been housed in a women's shelter and given medical care and counselling.
Alberto has only just seen Patricia and met his granddaughter this week, under the supervision of the psychologist who is caring for the three women freed from Manrique's clutches.
It was feared at first that Patricia's family may have problems getting her home – although she is in the country illegally, since visa-free travel to EU nationals in Latin America is capped at three months, meaning she would normally have been deported automatically, her baby was born in Perú and, by default, holds Peruvian nationality.
According to Patricia's aunt, Noelia Bru, the family also feared she had been brainwashed to the extent she would not accept she had been groomed and kidnapped, and would refuse to speak to her relatives.
But Alberto found his daughter to be 'just like the old Patricia', says Noelia – chatty and welcoming, and asking after her mother, brother and grandparents.
“She was affectionate and smiling and asked to see the family on Skype, which is a very happy beginning,” Noelia reveals.
She does not want to give details of how Alberto is dealing with his daughter's and granddaughter's repatriation because 'Peruvian authorities are not big fans of the press' and they are concerned about prejudicing the process.
After nearly a month away from her captor, Patricia's 'Stockholm Syndrome' appears to be subsiding and she seems to want to return, Noelia explains.
“She's not chained up or oppressed, nor reserved and withdrawn, like she was a year or so back – she seems very calm, very receptive.”
When she was initially traced, Patricia went to the Spanish Consulate in Lima several times and denied she was being held captive, saying she did not wish to return home.
But now, her and the other rescued women's main fears centre on the media and on what kind of life awaits them 'on the outside'.
Their children may have serious trouble adapting, too – neighbours in Lima said the youngsters were 'exceptionally aggressive' towards other kids and frequently attacked them physically without provocation.
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