Five Children And Pregnant Woman Killed In Panama

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A dozen pastors are under arrest and under investigation for the death of a pregnant woman and her five children, including a one-year-old baby.

Panamanian authorities revealed that the victims were killed and buried in a grave by members of an alleged religious sect called La Nueva Luz de Dios in an area known as Ngäbe Buglé. There, the authorities also rescued 15 people who were injured and beaten. According to press reports, the rescued had been kidnapped by the alleged members of the cult and subjected to exorcist rites.

The corpses found corresponded to minors between one and 17 years old and an adult woman who was between her four and sixth month of gestation, the Prosecutor's Office of that country reported through her Twitter account. Ten alleged pastors of that sect must answer for the finding.

"All the alleged perpetrators of the act have been apprehended and will be brought before the Court of Guarantees in Bocas del Toro between tomorrow and Saturday," the Prosecutor's Office explained on their social networks.

The agency added that the timely intervention of the authorities prevented the 15 kidnapped people from being killed; after their rescue they were all sent to medical attention centers.

According to reports, the detainees include the grandfather of the five murdered children who show clear signs of having been tortured. The authorities also confirmed that all the perpetrators of the massacre are indigenous and knew the victims as they were part of their community.

According to reports, the preachers had kidnapped the mother and her children from their home and then beat and tortured them. They then dumped their bodies in a mass grave as part of an exorcism ritual. The shepherds would have required everyone to repent for their sins or would be killed by members of the sect who were to carry out the "message of God."

Some witnesses assured law enforcement officers that the victims were taken to a building that served as the village temple where the rites were performed, and were then massacred.

“They were performing a ritual inside the structure. In that rite there were people detained against their will being mistreated. All these rites were aimed at killing them if they did not repent of their sins, said area prosecutor Rafael Beloyes.

According to reports, the finding was made thanks to the fact that three victims of the preachers ran away and went to a hospital where they alerted the authorities.

For his part, the local leader, Ricardo Miranda, called the sect "satanic" and demanded to eliminate it. "We demand the immediate eradication of this satanic sect, which violates all the practices of spirituality and the co-existence of the Holy Scriptures," he said.