Kristy Bamu, 15, was visiting his sister Magalie in east London from France during Christmas 2010 – but after becoming the subject of his sister’s witchcraft allegations, he never returned home
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Kristy Bamu was just 15 years old when he went to visit his sister Magalie, 29, and her boyfriend Eric Bikubi for Christmas.
He’d travelled to their home in Newham, east London from Paris with four of his siblings to celebrate Christmas in 2010 – but what was supposed to be a family get-together quickly became a nightmare.
Bikubi, who had brain damage, believed Kristy to be a witch who had brought “kindoki” (witchcraft) into his home – and he took it upon himself to “exorcise” the teenager.
Over the next few days Bikubi and Magalie subjected the siblings – and Kristy in particular – to unthinkable abuse.
Tragically, on Christmas Day, Kristy died after being drowned in the bath in an attempt to perform a “ritual cleansing.”
But it was only after Magalie Bamu and Bikubi were charged with murder that the horror of their crimes unfolded.
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During a trial at the Old Bailey in 2012, the court heard the children were subjected to an ordeal that “almost passes belief,” the BBC reports.
The jury was told of horrific details of abuse including how Kristy was attacked with knives, sticks, metal bars, ceramic floor tiles, bottles and a hammer and chisel by his own sister and her partner.
Bikubi beat his girlfriend’s siblings and forced other children to join in with the attacks.
At one point, Bikubi told Kristy and his sisters, aged 11 and 20, to jump out of the window to see if they could fly.
They turned to Magalie, their oldest sister, for help, but she just encouraged her boyfriend to beat Kristy – until he eventually falsely confessed to witchcraft.
The sisters managed to avoid further beatings by making false confessions – but when Kristy wet himself, the campaign of abuse continued.
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Sister Kelly, who was 21 at the time of the trial, told the court: “It was as if they were obsessed by witchcraft. They decided we had come there to kill them.”
She added: “Kristy asked for forgiveness. He asked again and again. Magalie did absolutely nothing. She didn’t give a damn. She said we deserved it.”
Both Magalie Bamu and Bikubi were found guilty of torture and murdering Kristy. Bamu was also convicted of two counts of assault – which her boyfriend had pleaded guilty to.
Bikubi was jailed for a minimum of 30 years, while Bamu was caged for 25 years.
During sentencing, Judge David Paget said there was a “sadistic element” to the murder, saying it was “prolonged torture.”
The judge accepted that Bikubi truly believed Kristy was a witch – but said this was no excuse for assaulting another person, “let alone the killing of another human being.”
Sentencing Bamu, he told her she’d not said sorry at any point during the trial – and dismissed her claim that Kristy had forced her to attack her brother.
Kristy’s distraught dad Pierre said in a statement: “I feel betrayed. To know that Kristy’s own sister, Magalie, did nothing to save him makes the pain that much worse.”
However, the family added they had “forgiven” their son’s killers.
In a statement read to the court, they said: “We will never forget, but to put our lives back into sync we must forgive. We take no comfort in the verdicts – we have been robbed of a beloved son, a daughter, a son-in-law.”
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https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/kristy-bamu-christmas-killing-torture-25775675