Wife beaten in East End exorcism pleads with judge not to jail husband

A woman badly beaten in an exorcism by her family who thought she was ‘possessed’ by demons urged a judge to spare her disabled husband from jail.

Asma Hussain, 50, was tied to a bed and beaten with a walking stick.

Her husband Ahmed, 60, brought in a Muslim imam and encouraged him to hit her harder.
Holy water was also thrown on her during the eight-hour ordeal at their home at Ames House in Mace Street, Bethnal Green, watched by her son Mohammed Kayes Hussain and son-in-law Mohammed Aziz.
“They thought Asma was possessed by a demon,” prosecutor Babtunde Alabi told Snaresbrook crown court.

“She was tied to the bed while the imam prayed and started hitting her with her husband’s walking stick to beat the demon out.”

But Mrs Hussain was unwilling to give evidence in court and continued pushing her husband in his wheelchair throughout the eight-day trial.

She made an impassioned plea to the judge to be merciful and said in a statement: “I have no one else to rely on. Sending him to prison means it is me who will be punished—it would be the end of my life.”
Mrs Hussain had been suffering from stress due to caring for her husband, which the family interpreted as being possessed.

But Judge Neil Sanders told them: “She was vulnerable and had been acting strangely—but the assistance required was medical.”

Hussain, his son and son-in-law were all convicted by a jury of ABH, but cleared of false imprisonment on the judge’s direction.

Hussain was spared jail and instead was given a year’s supervised and a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.

But Kayes Hussain, 28, from Harpley Square, Aldgate, was jailed for 12 months, while Aziz, 21, from Farthing Fields, Shadwell, got nine months.

link