Eleven adults were arraigned Monday at the High Court in Glasglow, Scotland, on 43 charges, including child sex abuse reportedly involving witchcraft.
The group allegedly used three children, two girls and one boy, as part of a child sex ring operating in Glasgow between January 2010 and March 2020, the Glasgow Evening Times reported.
Prosecutor Kath Harper accused seven men and four women of recording several instances where various combinations of adults in the group raped the three children while the rest would “clap, cheer and verbally encourage” the alleged abuse, according to the outlet. (RELATED: The Clinical Steps To Grooming Kids Match Exactly How They’re Being Taught In Schools)
Members of the group also allegedly paid the children to complete “sexual services.” The group also killed several dogs while forcing the kids to attack the canines, according to the outlet.
The Glasgow Evening Times identified the 11 suspects as Marianne Gallagher (37), Elaine Lannery (38), Lesley Williams (40), Paul Brannan (40), Iain Owens (43), Richard Gachagan (44), John Clark (46), Barry Watson (46), Mark Carr (49), Scott Forbes (49), and Leona Laing (50).
The 11 adults allegedly used the older boy and girl in witchcraft rituals, such as performing “seances” and using a “Ouija board … to call on spirits and demons,” the outlet continued.
Eleven people appear in court charged with taking part in ‘child sex abuse ring involving witchcraft’ https://t.co/BLX8H850VU
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) August 3, 2022
The boy, who several members allegedly raped, was made to watch recordings of one of the girls being sexually attacked and “courier controlled drugs” for the alleged suspects, the Glasgow Evening Times reported.
The prosecutor accused the group of neglecting and abusing the two girls, including several attempts to murder them, the outlet reported. The suspects allegedly sexually abused the older girl, gave her drugs and alcohol, forced her to eat cat food, and physically abused her, including running a wheelchair into her legs and nearly suffocating her with a plastic bag, the Glasgow Evening Times reported.
The group is also accused of sexually abusing the younger girl and forcing her to “act like a dog,” the report stated. They allegedly hung the youngest girl from a nail on the wall, chased her while wearing a devil mask, and trapped her inside various appliances, including a microwave, an oven and the freezer, the outlet noted.
The oldest girl was six years old and the youngest “just weeks old” when the attempts on their lives started, the Glasgow Evening Times reported. All 11 suspects deny the charges, according to the Glasgow Evening Times.
Five people, Robert Brown, Douglas Gachagan, Maureen Goudie, Steven McHendrie and James McLean, accused in several of the charges, are listed as deceased, the outlet noted.