Academic struck off for ‘predatory abusive behaviour’
PSYCHOLOGY LECTURER HYPNOTISED AND TRIED TO SEDUCE ‘VULNERABLE’ STUDENTS, TRIBUNAL TOLD
A PSYCHOLOGY lecturer who hypnotised a female student and tried to seduce her has been struck off, reports said on Monday (16).
Dr Waseem Alladin is said to have kissed the toes of a student and tried to convince her that they were lovers in a previous life.
The academic, a practitioner psychologist, is reported to have worked at a top UK university, which cannot be named for legal reasons.
A disciplinary hearing heard a student, identified only as Student One, initially rejected Alladin’s sexual advances – but was told he had five other students waiting if she did not give into him.
Alladin told the mature student that they had been lovers in a past life and that her “serpent power” had made her “irresistible to men”.
After he convinced the “vulnerable student” to be hypnotised, he took photographs of her which he later hung up in his office.
Alladin tried to persuade the student to stop taking her anti-depressive medication, claiming hypnosis would be an alternative method.
Student One said she chose to join Alladin’s class as he was “quirky and different”. She and several other female students, who referred to themselves as ‘the Apprentice Club’, met informally with the lecturer on a number of occasions.
However, Student One began to meet with Alladin on a one-on-one basis and his behaviour become “increasingly worrying”. He told her “if he was younger and more attractive, she would have slept with him” and that she was his “soul mate”.
A panel at the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service was told he also attempted to hypnotise two other female students.
A girl, known as Student Two, said she had a “weird experience” with the academic, who attempted to put her into a trance and asked her to send a “full body” photograph for healing purposes.
A separate student, known as Student Three, was hypnotised by Alladin, who recorded the session on his mobile phone. He asked how she would act if he attempted to kidnap her and massaged her head, the tribunal heard.
The allegations only came to light after the women confided in one another. Alladin is thought to have attempted to drive a wedge between the students, telling each one that they could not trust the others.
One of them later made a complaint to the student advice service at the university.
Alladin denied hypnotising the students, claiming he was teaching them self-hypnosis. He also maintained he had no sexual interest in any of the girls.
He said: “It has been claim[ed] that I was sucking her toes, I was putting my thumb in her ears. That is revolting and disgusting. It’s not my behaviour. No creature on this earth, in this life, because she talks of all kinds of life, or paranormal, can accuse me of having done that.”
Alladin was struck off with immediate effect after the tribunal found his behaviour to be sexually motivated and amounted to misconduct.
It concluded: “There was no element of coercion, but the behaviour had predatory elements in certain other aspects, in that it sought to exploit the health problems [Aladdin] perceived Student One and Student Three to be experiencing.
“Furthermore, it was undertaken with sexual gratification in mind. There was an unequal balance of power with Aladdin on one hand and the students on the other.”