Authorities in Gowa, South Sulawesi have rescued a 6-year-old girl from the clutches of her family in a highly disturbing case that allegedly involves elements of black magic and cannibalism.
The victim, who is identified by her initials AP, is now being treated for major damages to her right eye. According to reports, her parents, grandfather, and uncle tried to gouge out the eye as part of a ritualistic sacrifice they believed would bring them wealth.
Authorities sniffed possible child abuse in the household after last Wednesday's funeral of AP's 22-year-old sibling, DS, who was believed to have died after the family forced her to drink 2 liters of saltwater as part of another ritual.
Officers, along with AP's concerned family members, paid the family a visit after the funeral and heard the little girl's screams from inside. A video taken prior to the rescue shows AP's mother shoving her thumb deep into the little girl's eye socket, while her father, grandfather, and uncle were holding her still.
AP is now being treated at a local hospital following the rescue, with no reports yet on whether or not her right eye would fully heal.
More disturbing details about the ritual have emerged since, including one that implies the mother eating AP's flesh.
"They have been doing this black magic practice for a long time. [AP's] eyelid was even eaten by her mother, and this I gathered myself when I asked the mother as we raided the ritual," Bayu, another of one AP's uncles who reported the ritual to the authorities and is now caring for the girl, told reporters today.
Of the four alleged perpetrators, AP's grandfather and uncle are now in police custody as they await charges. Meanwhile, her parents are set to undergo psychiatric evaluation, as they claimed to have been influenced by malevolent spirits during the ritual, before criminal proceedings could commence.