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Seven members of a circus school in NSW’s Blue Mountains have been charged with the alleged sexual and physical abuse of three boys between 2014 and 2016.
As Nine News reports, four women, two men and a 17-year-old girl are facing 127 charges relating to the alleged abuse of the boys, who were all under eight years old.
The men and women from The Arcade Circus in Katoomba were arrested on Monday morning; their charges include rape, kidnapping and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald reports, the school’s owner and carer, 58-year-old Therese Ann Cook, is facing 43 offences including aggravated sexual assault of a child under ten, sexual intercourse with a child under ten and aggravated kidnapping.
Police allege members of the group used the boys to create child pornography material, while some are also accused of performing sadistic “blood rituals” on the children.
All seven have been refused bail.
In July 2017, detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad launched Strike Force Baillieu to investigate the allegations of historic abuse on the three children, leading to the arrests.
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire.
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