Kriti Mehrotra
Directed by Akhim Dev and Mariel Thomas, Investigation Discovery’s ‘We Are Jeni’ carefully chronicles the tale of the titular woman as she created over 2,500 personalities to survive abuse. Dr. Jennifer “Jeni” Haynes was just a toddler when her father started hurting her, resulting in her developing Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) – or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). She fought for justice for nearly four decades, but it was only in 2017 when Richard Haynes was arrested, and another 2 years before he finally faced the consequences of his actions in court.
Richard Haynes’ Abuse Towards His Daughter Was So Severe It Was Near Torturous
Although not a lot of information regarding Richard Haynes’ background, upbringing, or qualifications is publicly available as of writing, we do know he is a native of North-East England. In fact, he reportedly resided in the suburban area of Bexleyheath in London in the early 1970s, alongside his wife, son, and two daughters, before the family relocated to Australia for his work in 1974. Jennifer “Jeni” Haynes was just 4 years old at the time, but she has long claimed her father had already begun mentally, physically, as well as sexually assaulting her on a nearly daily basis.
“My dad inflicted – – chose to inflict, severe, sadistic, violent abuse,” Jeni once candidly told ’60 Minutes.’ “(Abuse) that was completely unavoidable, inescapable, and life-threatening. He chose to do this every day of my entire childhood.” According to court documents, she has even alleged that not only were Richard’s actions calculated and planned, but he also “enjoyed every minute of it.” From what she still vividly remembers, he heard her beg him to stop, cry in pain, and profusely bleed, but he still “chose to” inflict the same pain or go beyond the very next day, almost like clockwork. What’s worse, per her accounts, is that he also managed to brainwash her into thinking he could read her mind, so she didn’t feel safe there either.
That’s part of the reason Jeni developed Multiple Personality Disorder/Dissociative Identity Disorder; the other part is that it truly helped her escape her mind to endure the abuse. After all, apart from the physical and sexual trauma, Richard also tortured her mentally by allegedly threatening to kill the family if she even thought about the abuse, let alone tell them. Moreover, she claims that during his sadistically violent acts, he repeatedly told her, “No one loves you, I can do what I like to you. No one cares. You’re nothing.” He also denied her a social life to avoid any adult interference and nearly all forms of medical care, according to records, resulting in permanent damage to her eyesight, jaw, bowel, anus, and coccyx.
Richard Haynes is Currently Incarcerated in an Australian Prison
Despite the abuse Jeni endured almost daily for years, Richard was reportedly careful enough to never be obvious, meaning no one knew what happened to her behind closed doors. As per her accounts, this near-torturous pattern continued for 7 years until she was 11 years old, until the family returned to England and her parents divorced shortly thereafter in 1984. The then-young girl has long asserted that she later tried to tell teachers, school counselors, and nurses about what she had survived, yet no one believed her until decades later. It was in 2009 when Jeni finally approached the Australian authorities to report her father, leading to an extensive investigation that spanned nearly 8 years before he was arrested in 2017.
At the time of Richard’s arrest, he was living with extended relatives after serving a 7-year term in a correctional facility under His Majesty’s Prison Service for an unrelated crime. He was then extradited from Darlington, England, to Sydney, Australia, where he was arraigned on 367 charges, including multiple counts of rape, indecent assault, and carnal knowledge of a child under 10. According to law enforcement officials, this case was “one of the worst” child abuse cases in the country’s history, resulting in them going above and beyond to ensure justice.
When Richard stood trial for the hundreds of criminal counts against him in 2019, the Australian court made history by allowing not only Jeni but also some of her personalities to testify against him. However, on day 2 of the proceedings, when Jeni’s 4-year-old personality Symphony had only gotten through the abuse in 1974, he decided to plead guilty to 25 of the most severe charges. As a result, on September 6, 2019, after a powerful victim impact statement, the 74-year-old was sentenced to 45 years in prison without the possibility of parole for 33 years. The judge also described his abuse as “depraved and abhorrent” as well as “profoundly disturbing and perverted” before handing down the sentence. Thus, today, at age 80, he is incarcerated in a correctional facility in New South Wales, Australia, where he is expected to remain for the rest of his life. That’s because he will become eligible for parole in 2050 at age 104.
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