London’s Metropolitan Police reports that cases of abuse where the child is accused of being a witch or possessed by an evil spirit are on the rise.
Parents, other guardians, and in several cases pastors and church members who believe a child is possessed often resort to physical abuse in order to try and get the spirits to leave.
Jon Atack has vastly updated his critical book about the Scientology cult.
Also: a man quits his job over the number ‘666,’ and a cult leader who claimed to be an alien from Sirius has been jailed for abusing his followewrs.
Plus: Renegade Amish cult leader Samuel Mullet and 15 members of his clan have been jailed for their hate crimes. More inside…
The UK government has announced plans to tackle the “wall of silence” around the abuse and neglect of children accused of witchcraft, following the brutal murder of Kristy Bamu.
In London there have been 81 recorded cases of children being abused as part of religious practice over the past 10 years but police and church groups are convinced it is under-reported.
Cult leader Bert Potter dies; a look at how Jim Jones manipulated politicians in San Francisco; and Kate Bornstein is no longer afraid to speak out about Scientology.
Also in this religion news briefing: the rise of paid, online worship in India; plus: 15 years after committing suicide the website of the Heaven’s Gate cult is still online.
Plus: why more Ugandans are turning to Witchcraft, and why a lawer thinks trafficking in brides might be OK.
A couple convicted for torturing and murdering a 15-year-old boy they accused of using witchcraft have been jailed for life.
Football coach Eric Bikubi, 28, has been ordered to serve at least 30 years. His partner, Magalie Bamu, 29, will serve a minimum of 25 years.
A couple have been found guilty of murdering a teenager they had accused of using witchcraft.
After days of ‘feral’ torture Kristy Bamu drowned in a bath on Christmas Day in 2010, during torture to produce exorcism, an Old Bailey jury heard.
Two people are in custody after police found more than a half dozen dismembered dogs in a home in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.
The police also found items related to witchcraft and the occult.
A man accused of killing a teenage boy he thought was a witch cut the hair of a young woman to “release the witchcraft”, the Old Bailey has heard.
Violence inflicted on a teenager accused of being a witch was “wild” and “completely feral”, a witchcraft expert has told the Old Bailey.
Kristy Bamu, 15, drowned in a bath in his sister’s east London flat after he was was beaten and tortured in 2010.
During the mid-eighties Don Rimer managed to establish himself as an internationally known authority on ‘Ritual Crime and the Occult.’
Unfortunately, his work contributed to the ‘Satanic Panic’ hysteria of that time.