A South African teenage girl is in a coma after she and a friend were doused with petrol and set alight. A police spokeswoman said there was speculation the attack was a satanic ritual, but they still needed to investigate this.
The girl’s friend was hurt while dousing the flames.
Kirsty Theologo suffered burns over three quarters of her body, damaging her lungs and throat, when she was set alight in a park in southern Johannesburg, her sister Samantha told The Star newspaper.
While she was burning, one boy cut her hand and held it over a Bible so that the blood could soak it, according to one of the girls who was in the group, the paper said.
The Star reports that
According to Samantha Theologo, her 18-year-old sister Kirsty has 75 percent burns to her body from the waist up. […]
Samantha said the group of five boys and three girls knew each other well and her sister would hang out with them often. One of the boys was a neighbour and one of the girls lived on the same street.
Teenagers say the koppie [small hill — RNB] is a well-known spot for youngsters to sit at weekends to look at the view and drink.
The Theologo family heard from the other victim — Kirsty’s friend, who is recovering in a private hospital — that the boys had decided that the two would be sacrificed in some sort of satanic ritual.
“We don’t know exactly what happened. We heard they were tied up, but we don’t know,” said Samantha.
The boys are said to have poured petrol over her sister and set her alight. Her friend then tried to put out the flames, rolling Kirsty in the sand. In the process she was also burnt.
The rest of the group ran away, leaving the two girls to climb down the hill on their own. […]
According to a medical source, speaking to The Star on condition of anonymity, the teenagers were driven to South Rand Hospital by their pastor, then transferred to other hospitals. […]
The source said a third girl told them that the boys cut her hand and held it over a Bible so that the blood could soak it, while Kirsty was burnt.
Provincial police spokeswoman Captain Pinky Tsingane said the girls were tied up and there was speculation the attack was a satanic ritual, but they still needed to investigate this.
A case of attempted murder was opened.
Late on Sunday afternoon two of the boys handed themselves in to local police. They have been arrested.
It should be noted that thus far nothing in the media reports indicates that this crime was indeed a ‘Satanic ritual,’ or had any spiritual or religious significance.