Exorcism left dead boy on a cross

From correspondents in Cayenne, French Guiana
Agence France-Presse
June 25, 2009 06:43pm


A FRENCH Guiana court has jailed four church members for up to 12 years for the exorcism of an epileptic teenager who was found dead attached to a cross.

The members of the Celestial Church of Christ were jailed yesterday for terms of three to 12 years for "wilful violence that caused death'' for 15-year-old Roger Bosse in 2005 in the south American territory. The court heard that the mother of the boy, who suffered from mental illness, had brought him to the church for help and was told he was possessed by the devil.

The church members beat the boy repeatedly over a three-day period with reeds and belts and attached him to a cross for the last two days, the position in which he died. A post-mortem examination showed that he had probably died from suffocation.

The Celestial Church of Christ was founded in the west African state of Benin in 1947 and claims millions of adherents worldwide.

More:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25689726-5005961,00.html

Hat-tip to:

RT @robliberal Exorcism leaves boy dead on cross - Four church members jailed after epileptic teen found dead on cross. http://ow.ly/15G7xv
http://twitter.com/dmf71/statuses/2326193731

Such sad tales occur, I think, usually with rather isolated and dysfunctional cliques. I examined another story like this in detail recently and found the family involved had a number of problems with alcohol, petty crime, adultery, failure to pay child support, and so on -- and the supposed "religious ritual" was one they had more or less invented themselves, without much connection to the traditional beliefs that the press pretended the whole thing reflected; here's that thread:

Five guilty over curse-lifting death
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x211013

If the story isn't worth the trouble of examining, I don't know why it's worth posting

What is the most likely reason this?