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Night Watch: How a Conspiracy Theorist Convinced Her Daughter to Refuse Treatment
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Foreign.
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Hey, everyone, it's Katie. If you're loving Crime House Daily, you need to check out Crimes of, the newest show from Crime House. Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season from Crimes of the paranormal, unsolved murders, mysterious disappearances and more. Their first season is Crimes of Infamy, the true stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. Crimes of is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or find them on YouTube at Crime House Studios. New episodes out every Tuesday. This is Crime House.
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She was young, she was healthy, the cancer was treatable. With the right treatment, she had a very, very high chance of surviving. But Paloma didn't get the right treatment. Kate Shemarani's emerged as a spokesperson for the extreme movement, spreading falsehoods about vaccination. I remember at that moment thinking, oh God, my sister's gonna die if I don't do something as soon as possible.
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A young woman with her whole future ahead of her, a mother with radical beliefs, and a death that some say never should have happened. Doctors told her that she had an 80% chance of survival with chemotherapy, but she opted out of treatment and it cost her her life. Now experts are tasked with determining where we draw the line legally when it comes to personal beliefs, autonomy, coercion, parental responsibility, negligence and conspiracy theories. Hi, I'm Katie Ring, a true crime analyst, self defense instructor and fierce advocate for victims. And this is Crime House Daily, your essential true crime companion. Every weekday morning and night here at Crime House Daily, we dig into the true crime stories making headlines right now, where justice is unfolding, arrests are happening, and new evidence is emerging. Every morning, First Watch gets you up to speed on the biggest cases. And every night, Night Watch takes you deeper. If you want to follow a case from the first 911 call to the final verdict, this is the place for you. Follow Crime House Daily Wherever you get podcasts, leave a review and for ad free listening, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. For video, check out our YouTube channel, Rimehouse Daily. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Paloma Shemarani tragically lost her life at only 23 years old. Her passing last summer has sparked a high stakes legal inquest, one that could see her own mother, a controversial anti vaccine activist named Kate Shemarani, face potential criminal consequences. With the coroner's findings due any day now, one question remains. Is this simply a family tragedy or will a mother be held responsible for the death of her daughter? Tonight we're covering the death of Paloma Shemarani, a young British woman who tragically passed away in the summer of 2024 after a battle with cancer. It's an extremely sad story, but right now you may be wondering, why are we covering it? Well, it turns out that Paloma's mom may be facing criminal charges for the death of her daughter. Which means this case may be more than a personal tragedy. And experts will have to decide where they draw the line when it comes to personal beliefs, autonomy, coercion and legal consequences for denying care. Paloma's twin brother Gabriel and older brother Sebastian both blame their sister's death on their mother's conspiratorial beliefs and medical misinformation. This summer, the family members went up against each other in a medical inquest. A medical inquest is a type of court hearing led by a coroner. Its purpose is to investigate how, when and why someone died, especially if medical treatment or the refusal of it may have played a role. Unlike a trial, it isn't about blame or guilt. It's about fact finding. In an inquest, the coroner hears evidence from doctors, family members and sometimes medical experts to determine the circumstances of the death. In rare cases, a jury may be involved, but most medical inquests are decided by a coroner. Depending on the findings, the case could also be referred to the police for a criminal investigation. The coroner is scheduled to share her final conclusions on October 2nd. So we'll get you more insight into possible repercussions for Paloma's mom, Kate Shemarani, then. So how did we get here? Let's dive in. In 2001, Paloma Shemarani is born in Sussex. She has three siblings. An older brother named Sebastian, a twin brother named Gabriel, and a younger sister who's chosen to keep her name out of the press. The Shemarani kids grew up in an unusual household. Their parents, Farmars and Kate, subscribe to some fringe beliefs. For instance, they think that all members of the royal family are shape shifting lizards. Farimars and Kate are deep into the rabbit hole. They listen to Alex Jones non stop and watch conspiracy theory videos late into the night. Even so, the Shemarani kids still manage to enjoy their childhood. They're all super close, especially Paloma and her twin Gabriel. They hang out all the time, and they're always making each other laugh. But as they get older, their mom, Kate, starts creating more tension in the household. When Paloma and Gabriel were 11 years old, Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery to have her tumor removed. And luckily, it was a success. However, even though conventional medicine cures Kate, she tells a different story on social media. She says she became cancer free with, quote, alternative therapies, including juice cleanses and coffee enemas. But she intentionally never uses the word cure to describe her recovery. There are a lot of people on the Internet who make similar claims, but it's especially surprising coming from Kate. Because she's a nurse, it seems strange for her to lie about having surgery, but her social media following is growing, so there might be some incentive there as her followers grow.
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Kate.
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Kate continues to lie, and it seems like she starts to believe her own lies because she begins strictly monitoring everything her kids eat. One day, Paloma's brother Sebastian comes home from school starving and decides to whip up some fried eggs. When Kate sees what he's doing, she freaks out and makes him throw it all away. She says eggs and salt are are horrible for his health. The Shemarani kids become deathly afraid of eating anything their mom doesn't allow. She tells them that certain foods, like meat, will make them sick and even cause cancer. Kate's food preferences soon descend into intense paranoia. She starts having boxes of exotic fruits and vegetables delivered to the house and tells her kids that these foods have supposedly mystical properties that will benefit their health. Eventually, Kate becomes skeptical of pretty much all foods and starts feeding her kids nothing but rice with ketchup. She also instills fear of other everyday products like sunscreen and fluoride toothpaste. And one day, when the kids are a little older, Kate's paranoid behavior reaches a new extreme when she cuts off the wi fi because she thinks it's bad for their health. After this, Sebastian, the oldest sibling, gets fed up and starts pushing back. Kate does not take her son's rebellion well. During one argument, she stands in Sebastian's doorway, physically blocking him from leaving the room. And in another instance, she throws herself on the floor and claims he hit her. Then, in 2016, when Paloma Shemarani was about 15, there's another shakeup in their household when Kate and her husband, Farumar, split up. After that, Kate's views become even more extreme, and she amplifies them on social media. Online, she calls herself a natural nurse. In a toxic world, she promotes two main things. One, natural remedies and two QAnon conspiracy theories Kate posts videos suggesting that cancer doesn't kill people, cancer treatment does. Many people find her convincing. After all, she beat breast cancer herself, so she must know what she's talking about. She also reminds people that she's a registered nurse and wears bright pink scrubs with a stethoscope hanging around her neck, which all lends her an extra layer of credibility in her followers minds. Between her looks and her controversial claims, her follower count keeps rising. But not everyone is buying what Kate is selling. Among the people who aren't falling for it are her two sons, Sebastian and Gabriel. Once they're old enough to leave home, both of them sever ties with Kate. Gabriel feels so disconnected from her, he even stops calling her mom. And they're hardly the only ones abandoning her. Kate can't seem to maintain friendships either, and the deeper she gets into her conspiracy theories, the more her friends start cutting ties with her. One of the few real life people sticking by Kate's side was her daughter, Paloma. Paloma keeps trying to find common ground with her mom because she doesn't want them to be on bad terms. So when Paloma goes away for college, she makes sure to text Kate, and she still visits home from time to time. Pretty soon, though, Paloma can't handle her anymore. It seems like whenever Paloma visits, Kate gets on her case about something. One Christmas, she berates Paloma because her brother Sebastian and Gabriel didn't come home for the holiday. Paloma gets tired of being her mom's punching bag and tells her twin Gabriel that she feels hurt and abused by their mother, and the abuse is allegedly more than emotional. On another occasion, Paloma told her boyfriend that Kate physically abused her. Apparently, the two got into a fight and Kate hit her. But rather than blame her mom, Paloma seems to blame herself. She's in constant distress over the state of her relationship with Kate, and sometimes they go weeks without speaking to each other. But Kate always seems to find her way back into her daughter's life. However, Paloma is still trying to break free from Kate's influence, and while she's at college, Paloma starts eating meat and using fluoride toothpaste. To some, these may seem like small things, but it's Paloma's way of slowly taking back control of her Life. However, in 2020, when the COVID 19 pandemic hits, that sense of control becomes even harder to hold onto, and Paloma falls into her mom's influence once again. But this time, the results are Deadly. When the COVID pandemic strikes, Kate Shemarani goes even further off the deep end. She is convinced the disease is a scam, that it's not real at all. According to the Independent newspaper, she, quote, actively discourages her followers from wearing masks, adhering to social distancing guidelines and getting vaccinated. Soon, Kate starts taking things to an even bigger extreme. She compares National Health Service workers to Nazis, accusing nurses of being completely explicit in genocide and says vaccination teams are, quote, death squads. Despite how problematic these claims are, Kate gains even more followers. Soon, being an influencer becomes her sole focus because in June 2021, her views have become so extreme that the UK's nursing and midwifery Council bans her from practicing nursing for at least five years. But Kate doesn't stop calling herself a nurse on social media. And she's still able to influence a lot of people, including her daughter, 21 year old Paloma. Even though Paloma has acknowledged how badly her mom treats her, it's not that easy to turn her back on the person who raised her. And Paloma starts to lean on her mom's advice again. It starts when Kate persuades Paloma not to get the COVID vaccine. But when Paloma gets some devastating news, Kate tightens her grip even more. In 2023, Paloma is diagnosed with a blood cancer known as non Hodgkin Lymphoma. It's scary news, but doctors reassure Paloma she's got a good chance of survival with chemotherapy. However, when Kate hears about her diagnosis, she tells her daughter not to listen to her doctors. She convinces her that chemotherapy will only make things worse and tells Paloma that she'll take care of her. Shortly after, Paloma moves in with her mom, where Kate forces her onto a plant based diet and starts giving her daily coffee enemas. When Paloma's brother Gabriel hears about this, he's furious. He doesn't believe in this kind of treatment and thinks Kate is taking advantage of Paloma's fear. But Paloma is afraid of the side effects chemo could cause, like hair loss and infertility. So she wants to give Kate's methods a chance. Paloma's brothers try to convince her to get conventional medical treatment, but it's no use. She never undergoes chemotherapy. Paloma keeps living with Kate for the next few months, and even though Kate has promised to take care of her, she's got a lot on her plate at this time. Like her social media career, Kate's still an active influencer and has gained a large following. And by this point, she's so problematic that several platforms ban her accounts. But that hasn't stopped Kate from getting her message out. On July 24, 2021, Kate had spoken at a COVID vaccine protest in London. And when she took the stage, she made some shocking statements, even for her. Kate said that NHS workers should be rounded up and punished. She urged people in the audience to, quote, get the names of people delivering Covid vaccines and email them to her and claimed she was working with a team of lawyers to target those people. Kate's speech went viral and not in a good way. Several politicians called for her to be investigated, including London's mayor and the British Prime Minister. They said Kate's speech could cause serious harm to medical workers, and authorities agreed.
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Kate.
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Just two days after Kate's speech, Scotland Yard announced an investigation into whether Kate has actually broken the law. As of this recording, it doesn't seem like she faced any punishment. But it's clear that people were catching on to Kate's dangerous claims, especially her family. When her son Sebastian caught wind of his mother's viral speech, he went on BBC radio. Sebastian thought she should be prosecuted for promoting conspiracy theories. He said she was beyond help. He added, quote, it's only a matter of time before somebody acts on the bad advice that she's giving the country. It wasn't long until someone did. Unfortunately, it was Kate's own daughter, Paloma.
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Foreign.
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23 year old Paloma Shemarani is using so called natural remedies to treat her cancer. She's following the advice of her mother, social media conspiracy theorist Kate Shemarani. One day Paloma finds a lump in her armpit and tells Kate, who tells her it's a sign that the cancer is leaving her body. Then, in July 2024, Paloma's feeling worse than ever. She's so weak she can barely even swallow. Shortly after she collapses, Kate is there and she can clearly see that Paloma is unresponsive. But instead of calling the ambulance, Kate calls a friend. Her friend comes to the house and only then do they decide to call 999, the UK's equivalent of 911. While her friend speaks to the dispatcher, Kate begins performing CPR on Paloma. And when the medics arrive, they take over. But while they're trying to work, Kate won't stop getting in the way. She's so intrusive, the medics firmly tell her to stop interrupting. They also administer adrenaline, per UK standards. But Paloma is still unresponsive, so she's rushed to Royal Sussex County Hospital, where she remains in the ICU for a few days. There, doctors discover a large tumor blocking Paloma's airways, which they believe triggered a heart attack. They also think she sustained irreversible brain damage as a result. A few days after 23 year old Paloma arrives in the ICU, she's taken off of life support and dies shortly after. And her brothers only hear the news after she's gone. No one else in their family told them they were considering taking her off life support. They are devastated and also suspicious. All of Paloma's siblings are thinking the same thing, that if Kate hadn't stopped her from getting chemo, she might still be alive. When the dust settles a little, Paloma's siblings decide to get to the bottom of things. They want justice for their sister. To them, that means holding their mother accountable for her death. So they launch a medical inquest. When the proceedings begin In July of 2025, Sebastian and Gabriel are in the courtroom. Kate joins by video call and they spearhead the two sides of the inquest. People from both teams cross examine each other and the atmosphere quickly goes from tense and uncomfortable to downright hostile. Mostly because of Kate, who repeatedly claims that the medical workers, like the medics who responded to Paloma's initial collapse, are the ones at fault for her daughter's death. However, she provides zero evidence for these claims. But there is evidence that Kate was at fault and not for the reason people think. At some point, the court plays a 999 call from when Paloma collapsed. Kate can be heard in the background saying, quote, she's dying to many, the timing of Kate's comment directly contradicts her own assertion that medics were responsible for Paloma's death. It also sparks more scrutiny around why she didn't call the ambulance sooner. After a few weeks of heated back and forth, the inquest wraps in late August 2025. The Coroner Coroner's final conclusion is expected on October 2nd. Depending on what they found, the coroner could issue something known as a Prevention of Future Deaths report, which would outline and advocate for measures to prevent what happened to Paloma from happening to anyone else. They could also recommend the case to police for criminal investigation. Paloma's twin brother, Gabriel, hopes that along with holding his mother accountable for any crimes, the inquest could lead to significant change. He wants a new law to be passed that would stop people from wrongly calling themselves nurses. Additionally, he wants the UK's Online Safety act to be re examined and for social workers and medical staff to receive training on how to deal with patience whose relatives are pushing conspiracy theories about their treatment. Finally, Gabriel wants the UK's Cancer act of 1939, which already prohibits the advertisement of false cancer cures, to be updated. We'll see what the coroner recommends and whether Kate Shemrani will be referred for criminal investigation. When there are any updates, we'll bring them to you immediately. And be sure to follow us rimehouse247 for breaking news. What did you think of today's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments and follow us rimehouse247 on TikTok and Instagram and subscribe on YouTube at Crimehouse Daily for ad free listening. Join Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You stay curious and I'll stay on the case. See you next time.