Two Haitian Women are confronting various charges after they professedly secured and consumed a 5-year-old girl in a voodoo ritual.
Peggy LaBossiere, 51, and Rachel Hilaire, 40, of East Bridgewater, denied injuring the girl and threatening the boy, the Brockton Enterprise reported . They pleaded not guilty on Jan. 29 to mayhem, assault and other charges. A public defender for the women didn't return a call seeking comment on Saturday.
Police say the girl's mother is a hair stylist who has LaBossiere as a client and requested the ritual. She has not been charged but is receiving mental health treatment.
The sisters will be back in Brockton Superior Court on Wednesday for a hearing to determine whether they're too dangerous to be released.
The sisters told police that they have performed "cleansing baths" for family and friends in the past, something that involves chanting prayers, rubbing frankincense and eucalyptus oils and sea salt on their bodies, and burning myrrh, the newspaper reported. Children sometimes get burned as spirits leave the body, they said.
The girl suffered a third-degree burn across her face that will leave her permanently disfigured, police said. She was treated at a hospital and taken into custody by state welfare authorities, along with her brother, who described to police what happened at the sisters' house over multiple days.