A GIRL alleged to have been sexually assaulted with her sister during
satanic rituals in Epping Forest, yesterday told a jury she was warned
she would be ''cut up and hanged'' if she reported what happened to her.
The 10-year-old, on her second day in the witness box at the Old
Bailey, said: ''My mum said that if we told, all the gypsies would come
and cut us up and hang us. I was scared. I believed it.''
Five people, including the girls' parents, are on trial facing 20
specimen charges dating back to 1982 and including rape, buggery,
indecent assault, and conspiracy to commit indecent assault.
The girl recalled her mother telling her that one of those who had
abused her, a 58-year-old man, was ''a Christian and a true gipsy''.
The prosecution said the girl and her sister, now 14, would describe
for the jury how they were taken at night to the Gipsy Smith memorial
stone in Epping Forest, drugged and made to drink blood from a
freshly-killed rabbit before being sexually abused by adults, including
their parents.
Mr Michael Lawson, QC, told the jury the elder sister had claimed that
babies were sacrificed at the end of the rituals.
Mr Justice Turner has made an order under the Children and Young
Persons Act banning the publication of any material which could lead to
the identification of the girls.
The girl said she and her sister would be taken ''about three times a
week'' to naked rituals in the forest and given drinks which made her
feel ''dizzy and sexy''.
She described being ordered to lie on the ground while a series of men
sexually abused her.
Among those present at the ceremonies she knew were her mother, her
father, and the other three defendants.
The girl said that ceremonies were held in the woods on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at their home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Afterwards she felt ''painful, hurt and dirty.'' She eventually told
her grandmother what had been happening to her.
Babies and girls a few years younger than herself would be sacrificed,
she said. Her father and the 63-year-old male accused would produce them
from behind the stone.
Her godfather would put the baby or child on the stone then take a
knife and either stab them or slit their throats.
Sacrifices had also taken place during the rituals held at their home.
The trial was adjourned until Monday.
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