5-yr.-old burned in voodoo horror
TWO SISTERS in Massachusetts were charged with burning a 5-yearold girl — disfiguring her — as part of a voodoo ritual her mother reportedly requested to help get rid of her daughter’s supposed demons.
Rachel Hilaire, 40, and Peggy LaBossiere, 51, (inset, left to right) tied down the girl, blew fire over her face, cut her with a sharp object and poured a substance over her eyes as part of the ritual, the Brockton Enterprise reported.
The sisters from East Bridgewater also threatened to cut off the girl’s 8-year-old brother’s head with a machete, authorities said.
They were arrested Monday after police did a welfare check on the kids and their mother. The kids had been staying at LaBossiere and Hilaire’s apartment for a sleepover, a police report says.
The kids were taken to a hospital, and doctors said third-degree burns on the girl’s face would leave her disfigured. LaBossiere was a client of the children’s mother, a stylist who requested the ritual, according to the Brockton Enterprise.
The mother, who wasn’t named, is Haitian and believes in voodoo. She wasn’t charged but was taken to a mental health hospital for treatment, according to the newspaper. A MADMAN randomly hit three people in three minutes in Greenwich Village Saturday, cops said.
Police said the man targeted a 22-year-old woman as she walked along Christopher St. near Seventh Ave. at about 10 p.m. He hit her in the face, then struck a 35-year-old man in the nose and a 60-year old man in the mouth.
Cops were searching for the culprit Sunday. A CENTRAL PARK carriage horse got spooked Sunday and took off galloping down Sixth Ave., police said.
The horse carrying three women was near Central Park South when a pedestrian who was opening and closing an umbrella and screaming loudly set the animal off about 12:15 p.m., cops said. The startled horse ran south and banged into two parked cars before the driver got it under control.
The passengers went to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell with minor injuries. The driver was unhurt, and a vet will examine the horse. Animal rights group NYCLASS said the accident showed the industry is dangerous. An industry rep noted the incident was quickly controlled.