CONGOLESE COUPLE IN U.K. FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER YOUNG BOY FOR CLAIMS HE IS WITCH

Kristy Bamu 'begged to die' after being tortured for three days (Picture: PA)

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Kristy Bamu, 15, was tortured and then drowned in a bath on Christmas Day 2010 by his sister Magalie and her partner Eric Bikubi, from Newham, east London.

Prosecutors said he was a victim of a 'prolonged attack of unspeakable savagery and brutality'.

Bikubi, 28, and Magalie, 29, who are originally from DR Congo, will face lengthy jail terms when they are sentenced on Monday.

The Old Bailey heard the couple accused Kristy of witchcraft after he and his two brothers and sisters came to stay with them from their Paris, France, home over Christmas.

Kristy 'begged to die' after being attacked with an 'armoury' of weapons over a period of three days when he refused to admit sorcery and witchcraft, or bringing kindoki - voodoo - into Bikubi and Magalie's home.

Prosecutors said Kristy sustained 130 separate injuries and died from a combination of beatings and drowning after he finally slipped into a bath Bikubi had run for the siblings after the ordeal.

His sisters, aged 20 and 11, escaped further attacks after being beaten when they confessed, while his brothers, 13 and 22, were forced to join in his torture that included him being struck in the mouth with a heavy metal bar and ceramic floor tiles smashed over his head.

Magalie Bamu and Eric Bikubi will be sentenced on Monday (Pic: PA)

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Kristy's sister Kelly, now aged 21, broke down in court as she relived the terror of the ordeal, which endured despite calls to their parents in Paris when they failed to understand what was taking place.

'They started talking about kindoki, witchcraft and this and that,' she said of Bikubi and Magalie.

'It was as if they were obsessed by witchcraft and then it became absolutely unbearable.

'They asked if we were witches. I repeated again and again and again that we were not witches.

'I did not know what was going on in their minds. They decided we had come there to kill them.

Officers found a whole array of weapons in the flat, including pliers, a pole, and a piece of wood

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'Kristy asked for forgiveness. He asked again and again.

'Magalie did absolutely nothing. She didn't give a damn. She said we deserved it.'

When paramedics entered the eighth-floor flat they found Kristy's brothers and sisters 'hysterical, terrified and soaking wet' in a blood-spattered living room, prosecutor Brian Altman QC said.

'Kristy was killed in the name of witchcraft. It is hard to believe in this day and age anyone can believe someone was practising witchcraft,' Mr Altman added. 

The Metropolitan police said there had been 83 cases involving abuse resulting from ritualistic or faith-based beliefs, and 17 prosecutions, over the last ten years.

Speaking during the trial, Kelly said her sister Magalie was 'an idiot' who 'still believes even to this day that we are witches'.

This grisly scene greeted officers when they arrived at the scene

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'I have no pity for her,' she said. 'She had no pity for us.'

A family statement written by Kristy's father Pierre on behalf of his relatives and friends, including his mother Jacqueline, said they had forgiven the boy's killers. 

'We will never forget, but to put our lives back into sync we must forgive,' the statement, read out by Mr Altman, said. 

The statement said that the family took 'no comfort' in the verdicts, which robbed them of a 'beloved son', and referring to Kristy's killers, 'a daughter [and] a son-in-law'. 

'We were always fond of Eric and regarded him as a son. We were proud that he would call us Mum and Dad. 

These weapons were found at the scene in what officers called an 'unprecedented scenario'
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'As a family we planned our futures together and Eric and I were to open a restaurant in London together as a legacy for our family. 

'To know that Kristy's own sister, Magalie, did nothing to save Kristy makes the pain that much worse. We are still unaware of the full extent of the brutality - we cannot bring ourselves to hear it,' the statement continued. 

'The pain of Kristy's death is something which cannot be measured or calculated. 

'Kristy was a fine young man, kind and considerate, much loved by his family and friends. We saw that he was becoming a man. 

'We hoped that he would work with me in my carpentry business and one day take over. Kristy was also a role model to his siblings. 

'The children are often quiet and alone in their rooms. We try to stay strong for them and Jacqueline and I are compelled to grieve alone so as not to distress the children.'