Two Sisters Charged After 5-Year-Old Is Burned In Alleged Voodoo Ritual

Two Massachusetts women have been arrested after permanently disfiguring a 5-year-old girl during an alleged voodoo ceremony.

The girl’s mother, who is of Haitian descent, had brought the child to sisters Peggy LaBossiere and Rachel Hilaire to remove a demon that was inside her daughter, the Associated Press reported. The demon was apparently causing the child to behave badly.

The girl’s 8-year-old brother witnessed the ritual, telling police that his sister was held down twice as the women blew fire over her face, cut her arm and collarbone area until she bled, and poured something in her eyes that stung, according to the police report.

They also threatened to cut off the brother’s head with a machete, the New York Post reports.

Police say the 5-year-old suffered a third-degree burn on her face that will leave her permanently disfigured. 

LaBossiere and Hilaire have pleaded not guilty to assault and other charges. The mother has not been charged, but is receiving mental health treatment, the Post reports. Her daughter and son have been taken into custody by Massachusetts welfare authorities.