Nicaraguan woman dies after exorcists throw her into fire to 'drive out demons'

A 25-year-old Nicaraguan woman died after a pastor and four other people stripped her naked and threw her into a bonfire during an exorcism ritual.

Vilma Trujillo Garcia, a mother of two children, aged two and five, was taken to the church by Pastor Juan Gregorio Rocha Romero on Feb. 15 in order to give her a "prayer of healing," Independent reported. She stayed at the church until Feb. 21, when she was thrown into the fire.

Her husband, Reynaldo Peralta Rodríguez, said that the church members thought she was possessed after she allegedly tried to attack people with a machete.

Esneyda del Socorro Orozco, the church leader, told the police that he received a revelation from God, instructing him to build a campfire in the courtyard of the church and pray for the woman so that the "demon will leave the body of the sick and go into the fire."

Romero said that they did not intend to burn Garcia. He claimed that she burned herself because "she was demonized." He added that the woman fell into the fire after the demon was removed from her body.

"She suspended herself and fell into the fire. And when we were praying we saw that she was on fire," said the pastor.

According to Nicaraguan police, Garcia was stripped naked and tied up before she was thrown into the fire. She suffered first and second degree burns on over 80 percent of her body and was left in a ravine near the banks of a river.

Garcia was found by her 15-year-old sister and was transported to a hospital in the nation's capital of Managua. She remained in critical condition for several days before dying early Tuesday morning, according to Vilma González, a spokeswoman for Nicaraguan national police.

Orozco was arrested along with Romero and three other people in connection with the incident. The husband said the actions of the group was unforgivable and painful.

"My wife was not demonised. What they did to her was witchcraft," Rodriguez told local reporters. "They killed my wife, the mother of my two little ones. Now what am I going to tell them?" he added.

Pablo Cuevas, a spokesman for Nicaragua's Human Rights Commission, urged the government to implement tighter controls on religious sects in the country.

"It is incredible that these things can happen today, there has to be a review by the authorities into all the different denominations and religions. We can't have things like this happening," he said.