Boy tells child abuse and witchcraft trial how he was forced to drink alcohol and beaten unconscious by a group of adults before saving another child locked in a freezer
A BOY claimed he was assaulted, knocked unconscious and made to drink alcohol by members of an alleged child sex and witchcraft ring.
The youngster told a court yesterday that he also had to help save a girl from the freezer.
Seven men and four women are on trial at the High Court in Glasgow on a total of 32 charges alleged to have taken place in the city between January 2010 and October 2020.
The allegations involve four children, accused of rape, other sexual offenses, witchcraft and attempted murder, among other charges.
Jurors yesterday watched three interviews in which the boy was questioned by police in 2019 and 2020.
During the latter, he was asked about meetings with members of the group. The boy was with other alleged victims at the time.
Seven men and four women are on trial at the High Court in Glasgow
The youngster: “They all arrived at the same time, as planned.”
Asked what happened next, he added: “They beat us all and hit us with pans. The kind of pans you put beans in, pots.”
The boy said he and two other children ended up “unconscious.”
He told police: “I just remember waking up on the floor. I went to get us some band-aids.”
The boy claimed he had “scratches and bruises almost everywhere on my body.”
During another time with members of the group, the youth recalled being “forced” into a room.
The boy said one of the eleven ‘shoved’ a bottle of Buckfast into his mouth. He believed that one of the other children also needed a drink.
He also claimed that another group member had “big cameras” with him. The detective asked, “Did he film what happened that day?”
The boy replied, “Yes.”
In an earlier interview shown yesterday, the child told how one of the other alleged victims was locked in various kitchen appliances.
He said the girl was in the microwave for “a few minutes.” The boy claimed she was also kept in an oven. When asked if it was on, he replied: “Off, as if it were on, she would probably be dead.”
He added himself and a girl took the child out.
The pair also had to rescue the same cub from a freezer. He recalled that the girl was “curled up in a ball” and the first thing she said was “help.”
Jurors heard the girl had been locked in a refrigerator that had been turned off.
The boy further stated that he saw one of the eleven hang her from a nail on the wall for ten minutes so that she “taught her a lesson.”
Iain Owens, 45, Elaine Lannery, 39, Lesley Williams, 41, Paul Brannan, 41, Marianne Gallagher, 38, Scott Forbes, 50, Barry Watson, 47, Mark Carr, 50, Richard Gachagan, 45, Leona Laing, 51, and John Clark, 47, deny the charges they face.
The trial, before Judge Lord Beckett, continues on Monday.