At the beginning of March this year we reported on the death of Vilma Trujillo, who died in Nicaragua shortly after being thrown onto a fire as part of a Christian exorcism.
Well, justice has taken its course, and a pastor – Juan Gregorio Rocha Romero, above – and four of his followers have been handed 30-year prison sentences for burning the 25-year-old, allegedly to free her from demons.
Judge Alfredo Silva said:
The suffering that [Vilma] Trujillo was subjected to is something no human being should go through.
Trujillo died after she was stripped naked, tied up, and thrown into a fire.
The mother of two suffered burns to 80 percent of her body in the ritual, and was dumped at a river bank before she was discovered by her 15-year-old sister and rushed to a hospital in Managua. The woman spent several days in critical condition, but died from her injuries.
Romero denied wrongdoing and claimed that his followers had successfully exorcised Trujillo inside their church, arguing that she had been possessed by demons and had allegedly tried to attack people with a machete.
Hat tip: Peter Sykes