It has emerged at an ongoing case at the Old Bailey, that a 15 year old boy Kristy Bamu was on Christmas day, tortured with pliers, knives and a hammer after being accused by his sister of being a witch.
Magalie Bamu 28, and her boyfriend Eric Bikubi 27, attacked Kristy and his other 2 sisters for days saying there were ‘sorcerers’.
Kristy was in such pain after days of being attacked with sticks, a metal bar, hammer and chisel that he begged to die, jurors heard.
After being tortured, he was forced into a bath despite his exhaustion and obvious pain. He couldn’t keep his head above the water and ended up drowning in the bath.
The teenage boy had suffered 101 injuries – his face and head were covered in cuts and some of his teeth were missing when he was found in the blood-soaked flat.
Bamu called an ambulance to her home in Forest Gate, East London, on Christmas Day 2010 and told the operator her brother had drowned himself in the bathroom.
Prosecutor Brian Altman QC was quoted as saying:
‘The boy was subjected to unimaginable physical torture at the hands of his older sister and her partner and by some of his siblings, who in order to avoid violence to themselves, were forced to participate in the brutality being meted out to Kristy”
When Paramedics arrived at the flat, they also found Kristy’s four siblings – brothers Yves, 22, and a 13-year-old, and two sisters Kelly, 20, and a younger sister.
‘All were standing in the living room, hysterical, terrified and soaking wet. None of them spoke any English. Both girls appeared to be injured,’ said Mr Altman.
All the family were French but Kelly allegedly confided in a paramedic who spoke the language.
Kelly had pointed out a piece of wood with which, she said, Bikubi had hit her over the head, and a metal bar with which she was beaten.
She had also pointed to a hammer which he had used to hit Kristy in the mouth, the court heard.
A plastic bin bag contained broken ceramic floor tiles which she said had been used to hit Kristy over the head.
‘She went on to explain to the paramedic that over the last four days Eric Bikubi had been abusing the younger sister, Kristy and herself,’ Mr Altman told the court.
Police were reported to have recovered the bloodstained pliers, a hammer chisel and several knives.
‘As you will discover, quite incredibly many of these items were to become part of the armoury of weapons which were used by the defendants to beat Kelly and and torture Kristy to death,’ Mr Altman said.
‘In a staggering act of depravity and cruelty, they both forced the others to take part in the assaults upon Kristy.’
The five siblings had left their home in Paris to spend Christmas with the couple at the flat in East London.
‘They had stayed with them before and just as with their previous visits they had enjoyed themselves for the first few days,’ Mr Altman said.
‘But the mood had changed when Bikubi accused Kristy, Kelly and the 11-year-old of being sorcerers – practising witchcraft.
‘Despite her own siblings’ denials that they were sorcerers, Magalie Bamu joined her boyfriend in repeating these fantastic claims and participating in the assaults.
‘Both Erik Bikubi and Magalie Bamu beat the three of them, refusing to let them eat drink or sleep for days while the punishments became increasingly violent with them using the many implements found in the flat as weapons of torture and physical abuse.
‘However, it was Kristy who became the focus of Bikubi’s attention and, in a desperate attempt to prevent any further suffering, he and his two sisters were eventually to admit to being sorcerers.
‘Wickedly, the defendants also recruited sibling against sibling as vehicles for their violence.
‘In a staggering act of depravity and cruelty, they both forced the others to take part in the assaults upon Kristy.
Mr Altman went on: ‘Bikubi made everyone in the flat pray and chant together all night long, but that did nothing to alleviate the children’s plight.
‘On the contrary, the defendants just continued the violence as before.
‘As Kirsty’s injuries became ever more severe he even pleaded to be allowed to die.
‘Eventually Bikubi took him into the bathroom, put him in the bath and started to run the water.
‘Kirsty was just too badly injured and exhausted to resist or to keep his head above the water. It is possible he was even unconscious.
‘While Kristy succumbed to death, Bikubi put Yves, Kelly and the two other children into the bath with their brother and hosed them all down with cold water using a shower head.’
Kristy had been found on the bathroom floor and Bamu said her brother had drowned himself in the bath, it was alleged.
His head and face were covered in deep cuts and bruising, his arms and back had cuts, and there were teeth missing or loose.
‘Kristy had been the victim of a prolonged attack of unspeakable savagery and brutality,’ said Mr Altman.
The court was told that several calls had been made to the children’s father Pierre in Paris, and Kristy told him that Bikubi was going to kill him.
But Mr Bamu did not believe his son because he had always regarded Bikubi as ‘pleasant and gentle’.
‘He had sent his children on holiday, not to a torture chamber,’ added Mr Altman.
Mr Altman told jurors that the couple were believers in ‘kindoki’ – a form of witchcraft that pervades almost all sections of their native Congolese society.
The couple deny murder and causing actual bodily harm to Kelly and the 11-year-old.
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