A YOUNG woman from Elche lured by a sect in Perú has spoken out about her 18-month ordeal at the hands of its leader, who raped and beat the females he captured.
Patricia Aguilar Poveda will be 20 this coming January, which will be exactly two years since she fled her southern Alicante province home to join a cult which calls itself Gnosis and whose head, Félix Manrique, 34, who claimed to be a 'guru', convinced her that she had been chosen by God to help repopulate the earth.
Patricia and several other women were held at first in a flat in Lima, where neighbours described them as 'walking two steps behind' Manrique in a submissive manner, covered in bruises, and reported screams of pain coming from the property every night.
The other women had several children, fathered by Manrique, whom neighbours said were 'extremely and unusually aggressive' towards other kids, and did not go to school.
By the time they were all moved to huts in a hazardous part of the Peruvian Amazon, Patricia was also pregnant by her captor.
She was found in June after her father, Alberto, travelled to Perú and staged a full police investigation.
Alberto paid for all the women and children to be flown to Lima, where they are being cared for in a women's shelter.
Patricia has spoken for the first time on a video, largely narrated by her cousin Noelia Bru, who reads out Patricia's own words before the young woman speaks briefly at the end, thanking everyone for their concern and saying she will not give any interviews until she is fully recovered psychologically.
At first, after travelling to Perú, Patricia refused to be 'rescued', even going to the Spanish embassy in Lima voluntarily to stress she was not kidnapped and was there of her own free will.
But it was the birth of her daughter, Naaomi, which changed all that, Patricia says.
At first feeling 'protected', over time, she began to discover Manrique was 'not her saviour after all' and began to realise she had been duped, and was in danger.
“[Manrique] sometimes showed the baby some love, but other times he didn't want to know. Then I realised his 'affection' for Naaomi was just play-acting,” Patricia said.
Admitting she and the other women were beaten and raped, the 19-year-old described her terror at giving birth in the jungle, with only a native tribeswoman to help hr.
She has a congenital heart condition, meaning labour was particularly risky for her.
“I was frightened because of the health issue, the lack of food, and frightened of him and his constant aggressiveness. I gave birth on my own and without any trained medical help,” she reveals.
Patricia had thought, before running away from home, that she was in a 'long-distance relationship' with Manrique, and that he was her 'boyfriend'.
“When I arrived, I met this man of 33 years old who appeared normal, but very intelligent. Although I didn't see any sign that he could be what he claimed to be – the 'Chosen One' sent by God, someone with a lot of power. But I had been so manipulated that I fully believed it, even without seeing it.”
Patricia was found alone in a hut in the depths of the Amazon looking after five children, including her own baby, born a month before she was rescued.
The children had been forced to work all day peeling coffee beans which were sold on markets, from which sales Manrique pocketed the case.
Patricia admits that even when she was first rescued, the 'Stockholm Syndrome' remained, although 'deep down' she felt 'relieved'.
Manrique suspected the police were on his trail, and warned the women to cover up for him, saying they could be jailed and separated and kept in appalling conditions if officers took them in.
It took some time before the women admitted their ordeal, as they were afraid Manrique's prognostications would come true.
Patricia has urged Peruvian authorities not to release Manrique 'under any circumstances', because he is 'dangerous'.
Initially still trying to protect him, she did not give the full story to National Police or the courts in Spain, but has since changed her statement and described her suffering in full.
“It's not easy getting out of there. I was scared and [Manrique] is dangerous. He threatened me many times, and I was frightened and worried,” she says.
“It's not that he's a flight risk: it's because, if he's released, he'll disappear and never be found again,” Patricia warns.
She and baby Naaomi – whose birth was completely unknown to her family until they were found – are now in good physical health, although Patricia is undergoing intense counselling with a specialist in sect victims.
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