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German police have arrested five South Korean family members suspected of beating to death a 41-year-old woman in a religious exorcism ritual in a hotel room, prosecutors said.
The body of the 41-year-old was discovered at the Hotel Intercontinental in Frankfurt on Saturday after the suspects called a priest.
“When he saw what had happened he notified the reception, and they called police,” prosecutor Nadja Niesen said.
She said the family – a 44-year-old woman, her children aged 19 and 21, and two 15-year-old boys – wanted to expel a “demon” they believed had possessed the woman.
They put “massive force on her chest and stomach area” while stuffing a towel and clothes hanger into her mouth to stop her screaming.
Ms Niesen said the woman’s ordeal lasted for at least two hours and described the death as “a gruesome homicide”.
“The woman eventually died from asphyxiation as a result of the massive chest compression and violence to her neck,” she said.
“The investigation is now focusing on the five people who were in the hotel room, all of whom are Koreans and related to one another. They were arrested.
“One of the boys is the son of the woman who was killed.”
A second woman, also aged 41, was found inside the garage of a house the family had rented in Sulzbach after arriving in Germany from South Korea six weeks ago.
She was taken to a hospital suffering from hypothermia and dehydration.
“It’s not clear exactly what happened to her, we are still investigating that,” Ms Niesen said.
Agencies/Canadajournal
