Waitress 'brainwashed by cult' into joining 'lost African tribe' 4,000 miles away

The worried mum of a missing waitress found living 4,000 miles from home with a Scottish tribe says her daughter has been "brainwashed by a cult" that she claims groomed her as a teenager.

Kaura Taylor, 21, fled Dallas, Texas, with her one-year-old daughter in May and has since resurfaced living in the so-called Kingdom of Kubala in Scotland alongside the "king and queen" of the tribe. The young woman must sit by their feet and has to look up at him for approval before he lets her speak.

She insists she doesn’t want to go home but her parent is demanded authorities step in urgently to deport her daughter to the US so the “church-going” child can be reunited with her family. Kaura - or Asnat as she is known within the tribe - shared how she had never even left Dallas before arriving in Scotland, but now has no intention of returning home.

READ MORE: Former celebrity lives of 'lost tribe' leaders living in UK woods revealed

READ MORE: 'Lost African tribe' camping in UK woods stays put despite being handed deadline

The trio have settled in the Scottish woodland with the stated intention of reclaiming land they say was stolen from their ancestors in the Highlands 400 years ago. Kaura described her role in camp, making food and fires as a “willing subserveant” and tidying up behind the others.

However she said she said she had “no regrets” about leaving “everything she knew” behind her and has rejected pleas from friends and family back in the US begging her to come home. But her mum Melba Whitehead has pleaded with officials to step in and says Kaura has been indoctrinated.

Speaking to Sky News, the 45-year-old said: "They utilised the fact that she was angry. To encourage her to get away. They used the fact she was penniless. They utilised the funds that they had at their disposal to send for her. They made that happen. I know so. She's totally brainwashed. This is a cult."

She continued: "The first thing a cult is known to do is separate you from those that love you. This isn't just another young adult rebelling. This isn't just another young adult who's mad at the world. The difference is she's under someone else's spell in another country."

Scottish authorities are assessing a report involving welfare and safety concerns, Sky News state. The forest, which is a camp on the edge of an industrial estate, is at the centre of a legal battle. Eviction notices have been served to remove those living there.

Kaura was reported missing from Dallas back in May. Her family then spotted an online image of her living as a "handmaiden" in what was described as the Kingdom of Kubala in Jedburgh, Scotland. Kaura had claimed in previous videos she fled a “toxic” family, an accusation strongly denied by her family. Her baby is understood to have been taken into care by the UK authorities and is being returned to the US.

Kaura said she had seen many of the messages telling her to “come home” but claimed many were from people who barely knew her. She added: "Of course I recognise some of them, but I had two actual friends. A lot of these people had casual, cordial associations with me in high school or middle school, but any personal relationships would know already about this lifestyle, because I've always been very opinionated.

"I don't know what their need to be associated with me now is - these aren't people that I care about. Those people who do know anything about where I come from - I lived a very hard life. Health-wise was just the tip of the iceberg. The part of Texas, the part of Dallas I come from - it was a very hard life."

Kaura misses "certain things" about what she described as her "former life" and added: "Who wouldn't miss some things about everything they've ever known? I left everybody that I've ever known. I only knew Dallas. I never really even travelled around Texas. Of course, I miss some foods. There's moments where I'll think about certain people who've passed away - life was really hard, so you'd lose a lot of people along the way - but there is nothing that amounts to what I've gained with this lifestyle.

"I can only see that progressing. I can only see a positive outcome. There is no doubt in my mind that the rest of the tribes that will join us in the near future in this journey will have a similar experience. I see a bright future. This is just the beginning - all of the persecution that we face, our ancestors faced this tenfold. We are very grateful. We are very faithful people - we walk by faith and not by sight, so we don't know what tomorrow will hold."