Kristy Bamu, 2010-
On the 16th of December in 2010, 15 year old Kristy Bamu and his 4 siblings traveled from Paris to London. They had planned to spend Christmas with their big sister, 28 year old Magalie Bamu, and her boyfriend, Eric Bikubi, also 28.
Around the 20th of December, Kristy wet himself; the bathroom door had been locked, the child really had to go. Accidents happen, but of course the teen was embarrassed. He did his best to hide his soiled clothing, but to no avail; Eric, who had been born in the Congo and believed in witchcraft, discovered Kristy’s pants. From this he somehow deemed that the boy had been trying to poison his food. Kristy and the other children were blamed for bringing Kindoki, or possession by demons due to voodoo or witchcraft, into Eric and Magalie’s home.
The adults in the flat decided that an exorcism must be performed on the children, and so the torture began. The siblings were severely beaten, threatened with a knife, and one of the sisters was even forced to eat a lightbulb. Eric’s reasoning for this torture was to get the siblings to confess; he even insisted that the children jump out of a window to see if they could fly. Eventually most of the kids admitted to bringing witchcraft with them, and their torture was mostly over; at that point they were all forced to help torture their brother, Kristy.
Kristy was beaten with a hammer, and a metal bar used for lifting weights was shoved down his throat. Pliers were used to torture the teenager, parts of his ears had been completely twisted off, and his head was bashed with ceramic floor tiles. Kristy’s teeth had been knocked out, and his limbs were just smashed by that claw hammer.
Hundreds of calls to Kristy’s father, Pierre, were placed, in which Eric flat out told Pierre that if he didn’t come collect his children that they were going to be murdered. There was a terrible snow storm during this time, and Pierre had been in Paris. He tried his best to find a way to get there, but he didn’t make it in time.
By Christmas eve, young Kristy had suffered so much that the boy was begging for death. In the early hours of Christmas morning, the siblings were all placed in the bathtub and Eric said prayers while spraying the kids with water. Kristy was so spent that he didn’t have the physical strength to hold his head above the water; he finally succumbed right there in that tub. This innocent little boy drowned.
Finally the authorities were called. Police found blood all over the flat: on the ceiling, the walls, on floor tiles, on various tools. Autopsy discovered that Kristy had suffered more than 120 separate injuries all over his body. At this point Eric and Magalie were both arrested for murder. Eric’s defense was that he had brain damage and that he had truly been convinced that Kristy was a witch. A judge deemed that: “The belief in witchcraft, however genuine, can not excuse an assault to another person, let alone the killing of another human being.“.
Magalie swore that she hadn’t wanted to torture her brother, but had done so out of fear; she claimed that Eric had forced her to participate. Her surviving siblings claimed that was not the case, that she had been just as involved in the torture as Eric. Magalie was sentenced to 25 years in prison; Eric is currently serving 30.
Apparently this type of thing has become a real issue in areas such as the Congo – the belief in Kindoki or demonic possession. Sadly, children are often the ones who are believed to be possessed. The UK has been having issues with this as well, people are bringing these beliefs with them when they move out of the country. Now I’m not in the habit of condemning other cultures, for the record, but this is just sad. I’ve found a video on the subject of child witchcraft, if you have ten minutes or so to spare it’ll be added below.
*Yes, this means I’ve finished that new Patreon article today, it is posted now. So if you’re a patron, go check it out! If not but you’re interested, it costs as little as $3 to join and helps keep this website up and running. Either way, I hope you’re all having a beautiful day, and I’ll try to post another Christmas article again today or tomorrow. I have several.
