‘US Fritzl’ Aswad Ayinde ‘directed Fugees video’

A 51-year-old man from New Jersey is in court today accused of repeatedly raping his five daughters and fathering six children by them in a case with disturbing echoes of the crimes of the incestuous British rapist Adult R - and those of Joseph Fritzl in Austria.

Despite concerns that his victims could suffer if he is named publicly, at least one US newspaper has identified the man as Aswad Ayinde, saying he is the award-winning director of the Fugees video Killing Me Softly.

Prosecutors told New Jersey's Superior Court yesterday that 51-year-old Ayinde, also known as Eric McGill, is a "depraved" man with a "Messianic complex". His ex-wife Beverley said yesterday that he had impregnated his daughters in an attempt to keep his bloodline 'pure'.

"He said the world was going to end, and it was just going to be him and his offspring and that he was chosen," she told the court.

The abuse is alleged to have begun in the mid 1980s and continued until 2002 when Beverley Ayinde finally left her husband. During that time Ayinde is alleged to have beaten his children with wooden boards and kicked them with steel-toed boots. Moving house frequently to avoid the attentions of the authorities – on one occasion going to Florida - he repeatedly raped his children.

Three of Ayinde's daughters became pregnant, and Beverley Ayinde told the court some of the resulting six babies were delivered at home and never received birth certificates. In at least two instances children died at home and were buried without the authorities being informed. The surviving children were schooled at home and denied contact with the outside world.

On one occasion Beverley herself miscarried twins after her husband forced her to carry a dead great dane wrapped in a carpet for burial.

In a calm voice yesterday, Beverley Ayinde said she did not report her then husband to police for fear of incurring beatings. "I was afraid to ever accuse him of being demented, or being a paedophile. I knew the word but I wouldn't dare use it because it would result in a beating," she said. The judge is expected to rule today on the admissibility of her evidence.

Many of the rapes and assaults are alleged to have been carried out when the family was squatting in a disused mortuary. Beverley Ayinde says her then husband renovated one room for himself but forced his family to live in the dilapidated main part of the building.

Where the parallels between Aswad Ayinde and the recently-sentenced British man Adult R end is in the lack of anonymity. The UK courts have forbidden the identification of Adult R in order to protect his family from public disclosure, but no such protection has been granted to Ayinde in the US.

However, the news agency Associated Press made its own decision not to name Ayinde. It said: "The Associated Press generally doesn't identify victims of sexual crimes and is not reporting the names of the husband and wife to protect the identities of their children, now all over 18 years of age."

Some US newspapers have respected this decision. Ayinde was first arrested as long ago as 2006, and has appeared in court earlier this month – but the New York Times has not disclosed his identity. The New York Daily News has had no such qualms, however. It names him, and goes further – identifying him as the director of the Fugees video which won an MTV award in 1996.

The ultra-tabloid New York Post does not name Ayinde, while overseas the London Times does identify him – both papers are owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International. The First Post has decided to name Ayinde as his identity is now widely known across the internet. ·