Spirit Possession, Witchcraft, and Ritualistic Abuse

What is Spirit Possession, Witchcraft, and Ritualistic Abuse?

There are various definitions associated with Spirit Possession, Witchcraft, and Ritualistic Abuse, including:

Health implications of spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualistic abuse

Physical: This can involve beating, burning, cutting, stabbing, semi-strangulation, tying up the child, or rubbing substances like chilli peppers to the child’s genitals or eyes.

Emotional: Emotional abuse may involve isolation, where a child is prevented from being near or sharing a room with family members and is threatened with abandonment. The child may also be persuaded that they are possessed. Telling a child that they are possessed by an evil spirit or that they are a witch can constitute emotional abuse.

Neglect: In cases of neglect, a child’s family or community may fail to ensure appropriate necessary medical care, supervision, education, good hygiene, nourishment, clothing, or warmth.

Sexual: Children singled out in this way can be particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse within the family, community, or faith organisation, with perpetrators exploiting the belief system as a means of control or threat. Additionally, children could also be subject to practices through the deliverance process that are sexually abusive, such as having to be bathed undress in the presence of others. Trafficked children from some countries may be subjected to rituals designed to control them, including practices involving their pubic hair and undergarments.

“Justifications” for spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualistic abuse

Scapegoating: A child could be singled out as the cause of misfortune within the home, such as financial difficulties, divorce, infidelity, illness, or death.

Bad Behaviour: Sometimes, bad or abnormal behaviour is attributed to spiritual forces. Examples include a child being disobedient, rebellious, overly independent, wetting the bed, having nightmares, or falling ill.

Physical Difference or Disability: A child could be singled out for having a physical difference or disability. Documented cases include children with learning disabilities, mental health issues, epilepsy, autism, stammers, and deafness.

Gifts and Uncommon Characteristics: A child’s particular skill or talent can sometimes be rationalised as the result of possession or witchcraft. This can also occur if the child is from a multiple or difficult pregnancy.

Complex Family Structure: Research suggests that a child living with extended family, non biological parents, or foster parents is more at risk. In these situations, they are more likely to have been trafficked and made to work in servitude.

(Source: MET Police, Online)

The Law around spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualistic abuse

In the UK, there are several laws that allow for the prosecution of those responsible for spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualistic abuse. However, one of the biggest challenges is raising awareness and encouraging victims and witnesses to come forward.

(Source: MET Police, Online)

The Children in Need Census 2024 identified 2,180 cases where the assessment of the child’s needs showed spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualist abuse (previously called ‘abuse linked to faith or belief’) as a possible factor.

(Department for Education, 2024)

Signs that a child could be at risk of spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualistic abuse

Spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualistic abuse is not confined to one faith, nationality, ethnic group, or community. Cases have been recorded worldwide across various religions, including Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Not everyone who holds these beliefs goes on to harm children. The number of known cases suggests that only a small minority of people who believe in witchcraft or spirit possession engage in abusive behaviour.

While abuse can happen anywhere, it most commonly takes place within the child’s home.

• Children with disabilities, including autism, epilepsy, Down’s syndrome, dyslexia, etc
• Albino children
• Children living away from home in private fostering or domestic servitude
• Children living with a step-parent, with one of the natural parents absent or dead
• Children whose parents have been branded as witches
• Children who are perceived as “naughty” or exhibit challenging behaviour
• Precocious children and left-handed children
• Children who are living within complex family structures, such as a polygamous household or reconstituted family

(Source: MET Police, Online)

Signs that a child is undergoing spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualistic abuse

Most of the indicators of this form of abuse may appear similar to other types of maltreatment:

• A child’s body showing signs or marks, such as bruises or burns, from physical abuse;
• A child becoming noticeably confused, withdrawn, disorientated, or isolated, and appearing alone among other children;
• A child’s personal care deteriorating, such as losing weight, being hungry, arriving at school without food or food money. or being unkempt, with dirty clothes or even faeces smeared on to them;
• It may be evident that the child’s parent shows little concern for or lacks a close bond with them;
• A child’s attendance at school becoming irregular, or a child being taken out of school altogether without another school place being arranged;
• A child reporting that they are, or have been accused, of being evil, and/or that they are having the devil ‘beaten out of them’;
• A child being made to wear some form of religious paraphernalia.

(LCSB, Online)

I am worried about a child

If you are concerned about a child, you should follow your normal safeguarding procedures, ensuring that you specifically mention your concerns regarding potential spirit possession, witchcraft, and ritualist abuse, and the reasons why.

Professionals should consider:

• Whether these beliefs are supported by others in the family or in the community, and whether this is an isolated case or if other children from the same community are being treated similarly;
• Whether there is a faith community and leader which the family and the child adhere to:
  • As a minimum, obtain the full details of the faith leader and faith community to which the family and child adhere;
  • Obtain the exact address of the premises where worship or meetings take place;
  • Further information about the beliefs of the adherents and whether they are aligned to a larger organisation in the UK or abroad. Websites are particularly revealing in terms of statements of faith and organisational structures.

The family structure:

• The roles of the adults in the household should be clarified, including identifying the child’s main carer and determining whether the child is being privately fostered
• Whether the abuse coincides with the arrival of a new adult or child in the household, perhaps if they have recently come from abroad;
• If the child has recently arrived to the UK, consider: What their care was like in their country of origin; their immigration status; the identities and relationships of all members of their household, which should be confirmed with documentation. In some cases, DNA testing may be appropriate.
• Whether there are reasons the child may be scapegoated, such as, the child’s behaviour or physical appearance being different from other children in the family or community; the child having a disability or their parents being labelled as possessed;
• Whether an interpreter is required. If working with a very small community, the professional should ensure that the interpreter and the family are not part of the same network.

If a child is being taken out of the country you can explore:

• Whether the arrangements are likely to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare;
• Why the child is being taken out of the UK;
• Whether the care arrangements for the child in the UK enable the local authority to discharge its safeguarding duties;
• What the child’s immigration status is. Professionals should also consider whether the child has recently arrived in the UK and how they arrived;
• What the proposed arrangements are for the child in their destination country, and whether it is possible to verify these arrangements;
• That taking a child outside of the UK for exorcism or deliverance-type procedures is likely to cause significant harm.

(London CP Online)

Case Examples

Further examples:

• The case of Ayesha Ali, 2013. (Online), Possession.
• The case of Kristy Bamu, 2010. (Online), Witchcraft/Possession
• The case of Eunice Spry, 1986-2007, (Online), Jehovah’s Witness/Possession
• The case of Victoria Climbe, 2000, (Online), Witchcraft
• The case of Patrick Erhabor, 2001, (Online), Sacrifice
• The case of Faith Lovemore, 2009, (Online), Possession
• Case number 14, 2008, (Online), Evil spirits

Resources