Crown accused of influencing expert witnesses in case against spiritual leader, wife

EDMONTON – Lawyers representing a self-styled spiritual leader and his wife say Crown prosecutors in a sexual assault case allegedly convinced two expert witnesses to make their reports more damning before trial.

Charges were stayed last week against Johannes (John) de Ruiter and his wife, Leigh Ann, who faced six charges each of sexual assault and were slated to go to trial in Edmonton in September.

Police have said John de Ruiter is the leader of a group known as the College of Integrated Philosophy or the Oasis Group.

Investigators alleged he told female members that he was directed by a spirit to engage in sexual activity with them and doing so would give them the opportunity to achieve spiritual enlightenment.

The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service hasn’t disclosed specifically why the charges were stayed but has said multiple senior prosecutors conducted a thorough review of the file and determined it was “unable to proceed with charges as there is no viable path forward.”

Dino Bottos, John de Ruiter’s lawyer, said the defence was seeking to lift a publication ban on pretrial proceedings in order to speak publicly about the alleged misconduct of two previous Crown prosecutors on the case.

Bottos and Zachary Al-Khatib, Leigh Ann de Ruiter’s lawyer, successfully argued in court Friday that the publication ban doesn’t cover the Crown’s handling of its two expert witnesses — a forensic psychologist and a cult specialist from the United States.

Outside court, Bottos said the two prosecutors wanted to use the experts at trial to argue that the College of Integrated Philosophy acted as a cult and the de Ruiters psychologically manipulated the six women into having sex.

“The Crown made significant edits and suggestions for edits to these expert reports, which in turn changed their opinions or made their opinions more damning against the de Ruiters,” he said.

Bottos added that the forensic psychologist’s initial report findings were “relatively neutral” and testified under cross-examination during pretrial hearings that he found no basis to suggest the de Ruiters intended to psychologically manipulate the complainants.

Al-Khatib said the cult expert also may have not been aware of some edits made to his report.

“There were edits made by the Crown prosecutor that were not redlined and they were not identified to (the expert),” Al-Khatib said. “It’s not clear that (he) was entirely aware of some of those edits.”

Bottos said the defence would be filing complaints to the law society and other disciplinary bodies.  

The two prosecutors didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. 

The prosecution service said it couldn’t provide more information on “decisions made relating to the conduct of this prosecution.”

“The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service is not permitted to discuss human resource matters, including any employment-related actions or decisions,” it said in a statement. 

“An internal review is underway to ensure that this situation does not occur in the future.”

The defence lawyers said their clients are relieved the case is over but also disappointed that evidence against them could not be tested in court.  

“We, as defence counsel, didn’t get a chance to expose and, through our preparation, the weaknesses we found in the Crown case,” Al-Khatib said. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2026.