Monday, July 08, 2024 - A mum who took her own life at a su!c!de clinic in Switzerland did it as a final ‘’punishment'' to her estranged husband for getting custody of their three children, it’s been claimed.
Catherine Kassenoff publicly announced in a lengthy note on
Facebook on May 23 last year that she would be ending her life.
“It is with a profound heartbreak, that I hope none of you
ever experience, that I am writing my last post ever,” she wrote.
“Today, I will be ending my own life… There are simply no
other options left. In the last four years of my life I have woken up every day
to a nightmare like no other.”
The 54-year-old, who had been diagnosed with terminal
cancer, claimed that she could “no longer endure the abuse and terror” she’d
suffered at the hands of her husband Allan Kassenoff.
Attempts to divorce had raged on for four years between the
New York couple, who both worked as lawyers in the US, due to a brutal custody
battle for the kids.
Allan was given sole custody of their three daughters and
the terminally ill Catherine then decided to end her own life after she lost
visitation rights.
Her decision sparked widespread hatred against Allan from
strangers who would send him death threats and even track down his home to
target him.
But now new details have emerged after The Free Press took
an in-depth look into the circumstances of her death and spoke to those closest
to the family.
Former nannies claimed Catherine had punished her own
adopted daughter by “dripping water” on her all day so she couldn’t sleep.
She's also accused of treating her other children, who were later born by IVF,
far more favourably.
As well as her post on Facebook, Catherine also released
videos of her husband and thousands of court documents via Dropbox.
One of the documents had been written by UK-based former
psychiatrist Colin Brewer, who noted in a report for the Pegasos Swiss
Association that Catherine was of “sound enough mind” to end her life.
Pegasos helps people who aren’t on the verge of death to end
their life, unlike the Dignitas suicide clinic.
Mr Brewer also revealed that Catherine had originally
intended to kill herself twice before, with an original date in October 2022
postponed for administrative reasons.
“She was always very calm,” said Mr Brewer, who had to
rewrite medical reports for her each time.
“She got naturally a bit exasperated when talking about her husband. [She was] very clear about what she wanted to do and why she wanted to do it.”
Catherine’s cancer diagnosis was never the reason for ending
her life, Mr Brewer said, but rather an “existential assisted su!c!de”.
He said: “She was just concerned that she had been treated
abominably by her husband.”
No medical diagnosis was ever actually made by Mr Brewer and
he reported that her choice to die was due to “understandable misery”.
His report claimed that Catherine had made extensive
arrangements for her children to find out about her death in the easiest way
possible. But her adopted daughter Ally told The Free Press that she only found
out about her mother’s imminent suicide from the Facebook post.
Ally had been adopted by the Kassenoffs in July 2009 from a
woman in Florida who was unable to look after her. The couple had been unable
to conceive but later had two more girls through IVF, however nannies who used
to work with the family claim Catherine intentionally abused Ally because she
wasn’t her biological daughter.
Kim Hull, who worked for the family in 2009, claims she was
once instructed by Catherine to keep the baby awake all day by dripping water
on her head.
Kim said she was told to do it so Ally would sleep through
the night, but refused and said it was “abuse”.
On another occasion, the former nanny also said she took
Ally to the doctor after she found marks on her back which looked like they’d
been caused by fingernails digging into her skin.
Ally’s alleged torment didn’t end there, though, according
to au pair Celine Dublanchet who started working for the family in 2016. Celine
claimed that Ally was locked in a dark basement for two hours as punishment by
Catherine when she was just seven years old.
Ally was also told to go outside alone at night time to
clean the garden in the middle of winter on a different occasion, according to
Celine.
The adopted daughter was also forced to sleep on a mattress
on a floor in her room while her younger sisters slept in bed with their mum
every night. Ally would then have to make the bed every morning, Celine
claimed.
Celine said Allan was “very nice” but that he had a temper
and Catherine “pushed him to his emotional limits”.
She added: “She wanted the girls to see their father be so
angry. She did it on purpose, to have the children on her side.”
When Celine’s visa expired and she had to return to her home
in France, she said she even “wanted to take Ally with me because I felt so sad
and bad for her”.
After Catherine’s note was published online, TikToker Robbie
Harvey, who campaigns for women in abusive relationships, uploaded a number of
the videos Catherine had shared of Allan. One video showed him getting annoyed
and calling her a “fat old loser”, while he was heard telling Catherine he
“hated” her in another video.
And in other clips, he’s allegedly heard screaming behind
doors and shouting at the children to shut up before leaving the home and
refusing to take care of the kids. One of their daughters can be seen crying in
a video saying that she “doesn’t want to go with that crazy guy”.
Catherine’s videos were removed from Facebook but had
already been shared by Harvey and seen by many of his three million TikTok
followers. The abuse that Allan suffered as a result forced him to quit his job
after an absence of leave in June.
Allan later sued Harvey for sharing the clips, claiming they
led to emotional and financial ruin.
His attorneys said in their report: "With a few clicks
of his keyboard and a video uploaded to TikTok, Defendant Robert Harvey
financially destroyed Plaintiff Allan Kassenoff. ‘
“And, even worse, irreparably harmed Mr. Kassenoff’s three
young children… by forcing them into a life where their identities will forever
be associated with a bitter and ugly divorce and the suicide of their mother.”
Harvey’s followers reportedly bombarded the law firm where
Allan worked with more than 500 phone calls and 7,000 emails blaming him for
Catherine’s su!c!de.
Allan was seeking more than £115million in damages for his
loss of earnings and destroyed reputation.
The case was settled last week for an undisclosed sum,
reports MailOnline.
Recently, Harvey posted a nine-minute video apologising to
Allan for sharing the clips posted by Catherine and admitted that he “'made
some mistakes in the reporting” of their relationship.
He added: "Catherine did not provide a complete record
of what was happening. I echoed exactly what Catherine said.
“I wish I would have known the whole story at the time when
I was reporting the Kassenoff case. But I did not. Now that more facts have
been presented to me, I now see where I was wrong.”
Allan accepted Harvey’s apology but said the turmoil he
suffered was what Catherine would have wanted.
“She set this all in motion,” he said.
"Whether she got lucky with Harvey picking this up, or
she coordinated with him, either way: this is her dream.
"Assuming she’s dead. Her dying wish and goal was to
still hurt me and the kids.
“It’s like she’s harassing me from beyond the grave.”
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