2 women accused of burning 5-year-old girl in voodoo ceremony, police say

EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — Two women are accused of performing voodoo on a 5-year-old girl who will now have scars on her face for the rest of her life.

Police said two family friends poured boiling water with chemicals on her face because they thought she was possessed by the devil.

East Bridgewater police said Rachel Hilaire and Peggy Labossiere burned the girl and told her 8-year-old brother they would cut off his head with a machete.

“Two friends did a voodoo procedure is what they called it,” Deputy Police Chief Paul O’Brien said. “They are young kids, and they were writing it off as there were evil spirits possessing the kids.”

The incident happened while the two kids and their mother were staying at a West Union Street apartment. A man who lives upstairs told Boston 25 News he had no idea what happened just feet away from where he lived.

Authorities said, the mother told her friends that the kids had been possessed by the devil and they "needed to perform prayers."

“They applied a couple of chemicals to the face, packed it with some oil, we don’t have the identification of them,” O’Brien said.

According to court documents obtained by Boston 25 News, the girl told police Labossiere tied her up and put water and other substances on her eyes. It was “cold and nasty, and it hurt.”

“She is all scared up below the eyes,” O’Brien said. “From what we are hearing, they are probably not going to heal.”

The brother told police that Labossiere “held a long stick to his throat and it was hard to breathe.

Both women are being held on $50,000 bail with a dangerousness hearing scheduled for next week. Police said their investigation is ongoing and the mother is at a mental health facility for an evaluation.

Cox Media Group