Related coverage: Father claims missing teens in Braddy-Whyte case are still alive
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MAUREEN Braddy’s younger sister Lyn Ireland sought hypnosis to help her deal with the painful memories she described as “like a horror movie”.
Ms Ireland was eight when her 16-year-old sister and 17-year-old Allan Whyte disappeared.
The coronial inquest into their disappearance was brought to an abrupt halt in March last year when Ms Ireland – who led the push for an official inquest – said she saw her father and another man holding a bloodied body the night her sister Maureen disappeared.
Yesterday, Ms Ireland told the inquest she was “more confident than ever” that she had seen her father, Stan Braddy, carrying the lifeless form beside her bedroom window on November 23, 1968.
Counsel assisting the inquest Sebastian Reid questioned why Ms Ireland had not included the grim details in her initial statement to police and asked how her memory was “improving” years beyond the event.
Ms Ireland said there were some memories she had learnt to face and defiantly claimed there was “not a chance in hell” her recollections were inaccurate.
“It was like a horror movie, knowing something but not being able to look up to it,” she said.
Hypnotherapist Celia Kakoschke gave evidence and said Ms Ireland had sought her help in 2008 to “help recall memories”.
“(Ms Ireland) explained that she wanted to bring up a memory as a child of someone disappearing,” she said.
Ms Kakoschke said that under hypnosis, Ms Ireland was able to confront some of the memories.
Among the memories Ms Ireland shared in her treatment was one of “dad and uncle Ted holding something bigger than me... dad’s face looks shocked, and then angry”, the inquest heard.