Two Women Charged After Burning 5-Year-Old Girl Alive In Voodoo Ritual

Two women in Massachusetts are facing multiple charges after they allegedly tied down and burned a five-year-old girl as a part of a voodoo ritual, which left the child permanently disfigured, reports said Saturday.

The victim, whose name has not yet been released, has been left permanently disfigured as a result of the ritual that was meant to "rid her of a demon that was making her misbehave," the Brockton Enterprise reported.

The two East Bridgewater women, who performed the ritual were identified as Peggy LaBossiere, 51, and Rachel Hilaire, 40, who are also believed to be sisters. The women also reportedly threatened to cut off the head of the victim’s eight-year-old brother with a machete, police said.

The victim’s brother explained to the police that the two women allegedly tied his sister on two occasions and blew fire over the young girl’s face and cut her on the arm and in the collar area with a needle-like object, drawing blood. The two women, according to the Brockton Enterprise, also allegedly poured an unknown substance over the young girl’s eyes which caused them to sting.

The two women pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against them, which include mayhem, assault, and battery with a dangerous weapon, indecent assault, and battery on a child under the age of 14, assault and battery on a child with injury, and threatening to commit a crime, according to the paper.

They both also denied injuring the girl and threatening her brother.

The ritual was reportedly requested by the girl’s mother, who is a hair stylist of Haitian descent and had LaBossiere’s as a client. The mother came in contact with the two sisters through her job. The girl’s mother, who has also not been named, has been reportedly receiving mental health treatment in connection with the voodoo ritual allegedly performed on her daughter, however, she has not been charged.

The five-year-old girl received medical treatment for her injuries following the demon-related voodoo ritual. Following which, state welfare officials took custody of both the girl and her eight-year-old brother.

The girl, who was the victim, suffered a third-degree burn on her face that is expected to leave her permanently disfigured, police said. Her brother explained to the police that the ordeal took place over a time span of several days at the two women's house.

The two women are scheduled to be back in Brockton Superior Court on Feb.7, Wednesday for a hearing to determine whether they are too dangerous to be released or granted bail.

The women reportedly told the police that they have performed "cleansing baths" for family and friends in the past, some kind of ritual that involves chanting prayers, rubbing frankincense and eucalyptus oils and sea salt on the bodies of people they are being performed on, and burning myrrh, Fox News reported. They claimed that sometimes people get burned in the process as demons or spirits leave the body.

The Voodoo ritual refers to religious practices that were developed centuries ago by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, mainly in Haiti, where the practices are also sometimes spelled "vodou."