Voodoo Mom Set Six-Year-Old On Fire, Say Prosecutors

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) The bizarre voodoo ritual took place in the basement of a Queens, N.Y., two-family home. A 29-year-old Haitian immigrant has been accused of trying to drive evil spirits out of her 6-year-old daughter by setting her on fire.

Prosecutors say Marie Lauradin poured an accelerant over her daughter during a Haitian practice known as Loa and made her stand naked in a ring of fire, engulfing her in flames.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says Lauradin and the girl's grandmother washed her and put her to bed despite life-threatening burns over 25 percent of her body. He says another relative found her the next day.

Lauradin was ordered held on $50,000 bail at a Thursday arraignment on assault and child endangerment charges related to the Feb. 4 incident. Defense attorney Jeff Cohen says she denies the allegations.

The grandmother faces a later arraignment.

The girl went into foster care.

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