Mom Has 5-Year-Old Burned in Voodoo Ritual, Say Police

Two Women Charged in Vodoo Burning of Child

by Lana Shadwick

3 Feb 2018

A five-year-old little girl has been burned and permanently disfigured after she was subjected to a Voodoo ritual. Fire blown over her face and cuts to her body were intended to banish the demon that her mother believed made her misbehave.

“[The mother] stated that her children have been behaving badly due to evil spirits and that they perform prayers, and use certain water and oils to make the demon leave,” The Enterprise reported after looking at a report provided by East Bridgewater Police Detective John Grillo.

The Massachusetts publication reported that the mother is of Haitian descent and “believes in the religion of Voodoo, which originated in Haiti in the 18th century and is centered around the worship of spirits.” The child’s mother asked two women to perform the “ritual,” police officials said.

The sisters who tied up the little girl and subjected her to this treatment, also allegedly threatened to cut off her 8-year-old brother’s head with a machete. A police report said that one of them held a long stick to his throat making it hard for him to breathe.

The girl suffered third-degree burns during the ritual.

Now the two Massachusetts women, Peggy LaBossiere (51), and her sister, Rachel Hilaire (40), are in jail without bond.

“The victim stated that Peggy [LaBossiere] would lean over her and kiss all around her face like a snake and used a pointy object like a needle to cut her on her arm and collar area,” stated the report. “[LaBossiere] cut her enough so that she bled.”

Her little brother witnessed this abuse and told law enforcement officials that LaBossiere used a stick of fire and blew fire on his sister’s face. He said Hilaire held the little girl down, tied her hands to a stick above her head, and tied her feet together to form a cross.

The five-year-old also told the police that the women placed a substance in her eyes that made them sting.

LaBossiere and Hilaire have pleaded not guilty to mayhem (permanent disfigurement), assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a child with injury, indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, and threatening to commit a crime (murder), reported The Enterprise.

The mother of the children, a hairstylist, knows LaBossiere because the woman is a client of hers.

Police sent the mother to a hospital for evaluation. Officials then transferred her to another hospital for mental health treatment.

Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on GAB @lanashadwick and Twitter @LanaShadwick2. Read More Stories About:

Breitbart Texas, child abuse, mental health, voodoo ritual