The grooming began when she was just 14. Just over a year later, child psychiatrist Amirul Arif Bin Mohd Yunos was raping her, using a blindfold as well as suffocating and choking her to muffle her screams. He called the abuse “biology lessons” and sent her violent pornography to “study” for their next encounter.
Some of this abuse took place at the doctor’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) office in Clonskeagh, Dublin, where he treated some of the State’s most vulnerable children.
“He would tell her her body was a ‘form of payment’ for his therapy service,” the girl’s mother revealed.
“He said to her that he enjoyed seeing blossoming girls suffer in his hands as it made him feel more dominant and powerful.
“He threatened her that if she told people, no one would believe her because of his position in society.
“She would ask him if it was rape, and he would say, ‘No, rape is violent’, but it was violent, it was rape. She was left bleeding sometimes. She has had to have medical procedures because of internal damage he did to her during rape.
“It was also escalating. We do not know how far he would have gone if she did not tell someone.”
The girl, now 17, attempted suicide three times last week over the stress of her abuser’s criminal case finally coming to an end.
Her mother went straight from an emergency department to court last Tuesday after her daughter attempted to end her life the night before. She wanted to be in court on behalf of her daughter to see Yunos sentenced.
Yunos (38), of Hollystown, Dublin 15, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years last Tuesday on eight charges of sexually abusing and grooming the girl.
He pleaded guilty to six counts of engaging in a sexual act with a child under 17, one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one of meeting a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
I will never forget his smile when we asked for his advice. Little did we know he is an opportunistic sadist
Questions have been raised in legal circles and among members of An Garda Síochána as to why he was not charged with rape.
With 14 months already served, and an automatic right to 25pc remission, Yunos will be due for release in just under five years. He will then be deported to his native Malaysia, where his wife — who the court heard has stood by him — lives, as do many members of his extended family.
The girl was not a patient of Yunos. The psychiatrist was known to her parents, and when they asked him for a recommendation for their daughter, who was suffering from mild anxiety after Covid, he offered to give her therapy.
“I will never forget his smile when we asked for his advice. Little did we know he is an opportunistic sadist who would abuse his position of authority,” the girl’s mother said.
“I believe he is a predator and that he saw it as an opportunity from the very beginning. We agreed he would meet her once to talk about her anxiety. My husband and I were present with our daughter for this. The therapy was not supposed to continue further, but he contacted our daughter to arrange to see her without our knowledge and permission. He told her not to tell anyone.
“She did not have a serious mental illness in the beginning, but as a consequence of what he went on to do she has developed serious severe depression, severe PTSD, anxiety flashbacks, ongoing self-harming and suicidal ideation. All because of him.”
The girl has also developed issues concerning food. Her abuser encouraged her to put on weight so her breasts and other parts of her body might become fuller.
“She now believes she is unworthy of food. She’s lost a lot of weight,” her mother said. “Our daughter doesn’t want to have a shape in case it attracts men. Also, if she doesn’t eat, she will feel dizzy and then she won’t remember the rapes as much.
“She has insomnia too. Sometimes she looks lifeless and like a walking corpse because of the extreme lack of food and sleep. Before this, she was a really bright and high-achieving girl. She was happy, loving and caring. He took all of that away.”
After the only sanctioned therapy session Yunos had with the then 14-year-old, he reached out to the girl privately, saying he wanted to continue to help. He told her not to tell her parents.
Over the course of the next year, he began to groom her until she became emotionally reliant on him. He would buy her expensive gifts, occasionally give her money and take her out to eat when she got good grades. All of this happened without her parents’ knowledge, and Yunos encouraged her to lie to them so they could meet.
“He brainwashed and groomed her for over a year before the sexual abuse began,” her mother said. “He got her to the point where she felt as though he was the only one she could rely on and trust. He made her feel that if she didn’t give him what he wanted, or if she told anyone, she would lose all mental support from him.”
After a year of grooming, the sexual abuse began. It started with inappropriate touching before escalating to oral and digital sex and eventually vaginal and anal penile penetration.
He had taught and manipulated her to lie in order to see him
The offences took place in his sister’s car, his home, the girl’s home and his Camhs workplace.
Details of some of the sexual abuse inflicted by Yunos, represented by solicitor David Harrington of Harringtons LLP, were outlined in court.
The court heard the abuse started when Yunos collected the girl in his sister’s car in May last year. She was aged 15. It had been more than a year since she had the therapy session with him in the presence of her parents. They had developed what she felt to be a bond. He asked her what her bra size was.
“She was shocked and thought he was joking,” her mother said. “Then he proceeded to put his hand under her clothes to take off her bra, but she was wearing a sports bra. He put his hands to touch her thighs and into her underwear and asked if she felt lust. She was so shocked by this action and couldn’t even say anything or even move. That was the first episode, as mentioned in court.
“We knew nothing until she disclosed everything five months later in September last year. By that stage, it had progressed to violent rape, which was getting worse all the time.
“He tried to claim it was consensual. There was absolutely nothing consensual in his attacks on our daughter.”
Yunos asked his victim to request a two-hour lunch break from her school so that she might come to see him for treatment. The school contacted her parents, who in turn confronted him.
“He told us that because of her anxiety, she didn’t want to eat lunch in school, so he wanted her to come to his office so that he would give her therapy and she might eat her lunch,” her mother said.
“We warned him this could never happen, that he was not to give her any treatment. We also told her she was not allowed to see him for therapy, but at this point he already had a hold of her. He had taught and manipulated her to lie in order to see him.”
We would absolutely be worried she was not his only victim
Yunos got his victim to go to extreme lengths to visit him at his office. As she was not a patient, he gave her instructions about how to sneak in to the HSE facility undetected.
As he waited in a nearby corridor, the teenager was directed to make her way through a small forested area at the back of the building. She then had to crawl under a disability ramp to get inside in order not to be caught on CCTV. The girl drew her parents a diagram of the route she would take to gain entrance.
Once inside, Yunos would take her to his own office, or a separate room with a bed, and abuse her. He would put music on and place an item under the bottom of the door to lessen the noise of her protests and make sure nobody knew a child was being sexually abused.
“It is unbelievable how someone who behaved like this was a professional Camhs psychiatrist,” the girl’s mother said. “What is more shocking is that most of the sexual abuse happened in the hospital where he worked.
“How could no one suspect anything when a 15-year-old child was brought to the psychiatric hospital alone without any parent present?
“How was it that a crime like this can be carried out so easily multiple times in the hospital, which is supposed to be a safe space and a place for all the vulnerable children seeking mental help?”
The girl’s parents both have “huge concerns” over the safety of the patients Yunos was treating at the time he was abusing their daughter.
The sexual attacks against her took place in the same HSE office where he was counselling vulnerable children, many of whom were physically disabled.
“The manner in which he groomed, manipulated and abused our daughter was at an extreme level,” her mother said. “We would absolutely be worried she was not his only victim. He had access to very vulnerable children, and that’s a major issue. We hope the HSE are taking this very seriously.”
We are disgusted by his family and others who wrote testimonials of good character for him
In a statement released to the Sunday Independent, the HSE said: “We are appalled at this event and are glad that the criminal justice process has reached a conclusion. We wish to acknowledge the ordeal suffered by the victim and the victim’s family, who have endured enormous distress and trauma due to the actions of this medical professional who abused his position of trust.
“We can’t say anything which could potentially identify the victim. Once we were made aware of the investigation by the authorities, the HSE immediately put the staff member on leave. Since then, their contract has expired and it has not been renewed.
“The member of staff went through all of the appropriate vetting and clearance on their appointment. All necessary procedures and protocols set out in the HSE’s Incident Management Framework and Serious Reportable Events guidelines were followed.”
The HSE added that it has “worked closely” with An Garda Síochána and Tusla, and “we have found no evidence of any other incident… If any parent has any concern or question, we would ask them to contact their clinical team”.
The last time Yunos sexually abused the teenage girl was in September last year. Aged 16 at the time, she found herself unable to get off the bus to meet him in his office for another ‘biology lesson’. She did eventually get off, and was subsequently abused in his office.
In the aftermath, and concerned she might be pregnant, she contacted an adult friend via Instagram and set in motion a chain of events that led to her being examined at a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit clinic within days. Her parents learnt about the abuse their daughter suffered. Her first suicide attempt came that weekend.
Through his legal team, Yunos offered his victim €2,000 in compensation for his crimes before court. This act was seen as “the greatest insult” by her parents and was rejected.
We are so proud of her and her strength, resilience and courage
Last week, the court was told of testimonials from Yunos’s family in Malaysia as well as in Ireland. These were from his wife, sister, father and father-in-law in Malaysia. His Irish-based sister and brother-in-law also supported him in court, as did his mother, who travelled from Malaysia.
“He is from an influential family in Malaysia. We are disgusted by his family and others who wrote testimonials of good character for him,” the girl’s mother said. It’s scary to think of how much tolerance these people have towards such sadistic crimes against a child.”
The girl’s parents are now focusing on helping her in her recovery.
“She strongly believes that her life is not worth living any more,” her mother said. “We are so proud of her and her strength, resilience and courage. She might be a saviour of future child patients who could have been abused at his hands.
“If a 15-year-old can bring down a powerful 38-year-old psychiatrist to justice and can be believed, other women and children can be too. But do we forgive him? Absolutely not. Never.”
