The court heard that, in the 1970s, Balakrishnan was at the helm of a communist group known as the Workers Institute and based in Acre Lane in Brixton, south London.
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Balakrishnan is also charged with child cruelty and false imprisonment of his own daughter.
He is accused of raping and indecently assaulting two ladies members of the group, together with one who was allegedly attacked seven occasions over a interval of about 12 years from 1980, “The Independent” newspaper reported. He was not arrested until 2013 when allegations were first raised.
He drew both male and female recruits with his plans to ‘over throw the fascist state, ‘ but over the years his behaviour became more controlling, jurors heard.
Said Ms Cottage: “One was his wife Chandra but she and the others had all been so dominated and brainwashed that they believed he was all powerful and all seeing”.
‘The house was locked at all times and those inside were unable to come and go freely, they were not allowed to go into certain streets.
She said: “It doesn’t have to be by lock and key”.
He kept the women as psychological prisoners so they believed he was “all-powerful and all-seeing”, and subjected them to serious violence and abuse, jurors heard.
“This case concerns the brutal and calculated manipulation by one man to subjugate women under his control”, said Cottage.
“The atmosphere within the collective was controlled by the defendant and his moods”.
The daughter escaped when she was 30 and now suffering from diabetes, the court heard.
Ms Cottage said: “She was bullied, beaten and separated from the world”. She never went to school, she never played with a friend, she never saw a doctor or a dentist.
For years Bala’s daughter was barely allowed to leave the house, and was forced to watch life happening from a window. She was hidden from the outside world, and it kept from her, except as a tool with which to terrify her into subjugation.
She knew her home as “AB’s Communist Collective Family Pilot Unit”, the court heard.
None of the alleged victims can be named for legal reasons.
One victim said they had to wait “as if waiting for an appointment” to see Balakrishnan for sex, while one of the senior members of the cult would call them in when it was their turn.
She told jurors at London’s Southwark Crown Court: “In order to bend them to his will, he used mental and physical dominance and violence, sexual degradation”.
He beat the women, told them he could kill them using a single pressure point.
“She became terrified that the Americans were exerting mind control over her because she had bought a mark so identified with American imperialism”.
When other members of the collective were beaten by Bala, the young girl was so frightened she wet herself, the court was told.
If there was a natural disaster anywhere in the world, it was because someone had defied him, the court heard.
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Her mother was Sian Davies, one of Balakrishnan’s followers, but she was never told the true nature of their relationship until after her mother died, it is alleged. But she was then held down by four other women while he punched her with both hands saying the fascists had got inside her and he was beating it out of her, the jury was told.
