A WOMAN has told a jury of her horror at discovering a curse was placed on her family and of her shock at later finding a black magic voodoo doll.

But, she said, she and her husband trusted a well-respected "holy man", Tony Golossian, who said the curse could only be broken if he prayed over her naked body and was paid $3000.

During an ensuing "prayer session" when her eyes were covered, the woman said she heard "evil voices going on and angel voices as well" and cried as a man who was "the shape of Tony's body" had sex with her.

The woman, who cannot be named, gave evidence at a closed hearing in the NSW District Court in Sydney yesterday and a transcript of it was released today.

Mr Golossian, 62 and Arthur Psichogios, 40, have pleaded not guilty to a string of charges, mainly relating to sex offences against two women between 2001 and 2008.

Frances Psichogios, 38, has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the second woman.

The witness told the jury of her Greek Orthodox background and of the "evil eye" tradition, relating to curses involving "bad, bad things".

She had been to Mr Golossian's house which included a "holy room", which was "very religious, like a mini-church".

In 2008, her husband found a black wax object under their door mat before receiving a text from an unknown person, referring to a black magic curse on the family.

The frightened couple contacted Mr Golossian for help and he took them to the holy room where he murmured a prayer in a foreign language, she said.

"Tony did say if we don't break the curse that I would die of cancer and that (my husband) would die from a fatal accident and slowly my children would die and my family," she said.

"I believed it. I was just shattered, just totally shattered."

She said Mr Golossian referred to the black wax object they had thrown away and to two other "mayias" or black magic curses, which were later retrieved.

"In one of them was my hair, which looked like my hair, dark hair and my underwear, that I assumed was mine," she said.

"The second one, it had bones, small bones with some fine writing on it.

"Looked like a voodoo doll of some sort, and I was shocked."

She said Mr Golossian said that after retrieving the mayias the only way to get rid of the curse was to do a "naked prayer".

He told her she should not have her periods, be clean shaven and to put the clippings from under her arms and private parts into separate envelopes.

In the lead-up to the session, her husband received phone calls from "some sort of demon-like voice" and explicit text messages, some containing pornographic pictures.

She said Frances Psichogios drove her to the first prayer session and during the ride told her "to be strong" and that it would feel "100 per cent real" but it would be a dream.

On arrival at the motel, Golossian told her not to be afraid and "it'll feel like an angel will be entering my body, that it's a good thing I'll feel".

The trial is continuing before Judge Penelope Hock.



Originally published as Woman horrified by curse, court told