LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- A British couple have been sentenced to life in prison for torturing and drowning a teenage boy they accused of being a witch.
Eric Bikubi, 28, was given 25 years to life and his partner, Magalie Bamu, 29, was sentenced to 30 years to life after being convicted in the torture death of Magalie's brother Kristy Bamu.
Kristy Bamu, 15, was drowned in an east London flat Dec. 25, 2010, after what Old Bailey Judge David Paget said was "prolonged torture involving mental and physical suffering being inflicted before death."
Eric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu, originally from Democratic Republic of Congo believed Kristy was a witch and used, among other weapons, knives, metal bar, pliers, hammer and chisel in a four-day "deliverance" ceremony known as "kindoki," court testimony said.
Kristy Bamu suffered 130 injuries over days of torture before he was finally drowned in a bath, Sky News reported Monday.
Bikubi and Bamu coerced Kristy's four other siblings to take part in the torture saying if they refused Bikubi would threaten to knife them and force light bulbs into their mouths, testimony said.
Kristy and Magalie's father, Pierre Bamu, said he felt betrayed.
"Kristy died in unimaginable circumstances at the hands of people he loved and trusted -- people we all loved and trusted," the elder Bamu said.
"I feel betrayed. To know that Kristy's own sister, Magalie, did nothing to save him makes the pain that much worse."
