A "vulnerable" man was tied up and killed by his own family as they carried out a form of "exorcism", a court has heard.

Kennedy Ife's parents and brothers mistakenly believed he was "possessed by evil spirits" and set about "curing" him, the Old Bailey was told.

They allegedly used cable ties, rope and handcuffs to restrain the 26-year-old at home in Enfield, north London.

Seven members of his family all deny manslaughter.

Mr Ife's parents, Kenneth, 64, and Josephine, 56, and brothers Roy, 33, Harry, 32, Colin, 26, Samuel, 20, and Daniel, 20, also deny false imprisonment and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult between 19 and 23 August 2016.

Prosecutor Tom Little QC said: "His own family decided that because he had become and remained unwell he should be restrained with cable ties, rope and handcuffs.

"They decided that he should be restrained in his own home with them rather than calling 999. Ultimately that restraint was a cause of his tragic death."

'Misguided religious beliefs'
When Mr Ife showed signs of illness in August 2016, his family believed he had become possessed by evil spirits and decided to restrain him, the court heard.

Mr Little said: "The family put misguided religious beliefs about this young man being possessed by a demon or evil spirits before the obvious and common sense conclusion that he needed help and did not need to be restrained."

They made an emergency call, but Mr Ife could not be saved, the jury heard.

The prosecutor added: "Instead of calling 999 or seeking other expert assistance they sought to 'cure' his perceived illness through prayer and restraint.

"Whether this was some form of exorcism will be a matter for you in due course. In short, the Ife family took the law into their own hands."

The trial continues.

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Seun:
That’s similar to how Rashidi Yekini’s family killed him. #NeverForget

Seun:
I think this is quite similar to how Rashidi Yekini’s family killed him. #NeverForget

Seun:
I think this is quite similar to how Rashidi Yekini’s family killed him. #NeverForget

Seun:
I think this is quite similar to how Rashidi Yekini’s family killed him. #NeverForget

frosbel2:


Believe me Seun, there is a reason why I placed Emphasis on Pentecostalism. I personally was a few hours away from death because of a slightly similar situation without the violence , and have known at least one person who died refusing medicine and resorting to prayer instead.

There are countless cases of people dying in churches and at home because of the supposed healing power of Christ . If this is true, then why did the prayer of almost 3 pastors and the whole church take me closer to the death bed than to recovery.


Happens more frequently than is published ; religion imho is an illness with varying degrees of affliction.

[quote author=CodeSapien post=75488848]
Maybe your experiences are true

but there are also countless cases of many life threatening situations where medical science have diagnosed incurable ailment and the people involved got healed miraculously against every possible medical explanation. Maybe Health centers and hospitals should be mandated to keep special records of such cases for record and research purposes.

frosbel2:


Believe me Seun, there is a reason why I placed Emphasis on Pentecostalism. I personally was a few hours away from death because of a slightly similar situation without the violence , and have known at least one person who died refusing medicine and resorting to prayer instead.

There are countless cases of people dying in churches and at home because of the supposed healing power of Christ . If this is true, then why did the prayer of almost 3 pastors and the whole church take me closer to the death bed than to recovery.


Happens more frequently than is published ; religion imho is an illness with varying degrees of affliction.

frosbel2:

So why heal 2 out of thousands , why not extend this same power to the rest of the community ? Why are these cases of healing so obscure that they are very difficult to confirm.

Martinez39:
Lol. Many people are dying from rejecting medicine and using faith but you don't get to see them on the news instead more focus is given to the hypocrites called moderates who conveniently interpret the scripture to their convenience because everyone wants to hear that christianity is good and harmless. This suits people's feelings even though it's at the expense of reality.

I remember when I started taking this faith thing seriously and started getting involved in new generational churches, I decided to apply my faith to cure malaria. I snubbed my antimalarial for faith and I kid you not. What saved me was that I was at home due to the holiday and the excited me told my mum about my so called works of faith. There was fire on the mountain . My mum went hysterical and was pleading with me take my medication but I stood my ground and was wondering why my mum, being a christian, wasn't in support of my action, the irony. I later took my drugs after being talked into it by my cell leader who said "For peace to reign, obey your mum. It's not the drug that would heal you, it's Jesus." Can you imagine. This was many years ago and I wondered what would have happened if I was in the hostel and away from my mum's supervision. I was a small boy then and being an introvert and growing up in a household that is full of heavy (I really meany heavy) indoctrination into believing spiritual stuffs didn't help matters.

My mum hypocrisy got me wondering. Why would this woman who claim to be a christian and heavily believes in spiritual stuff act as if faith is magical thinking? I sensed this same hypocrisy in all christians I knew. It was always the same "we believe in god" but acting and thinking like god doesn't exist. I later started mixing out with people, joined nairaland and started observing human life. I came to the conclusion that despite the so much noise about god's existence and power, nature always took it's course regardless of what we believe. Religious people who have terminal cancer always end up dying. As a medical student then, I once asked myself "why am I studying medicine if there is faith healing?" Mehn, I was a young boy then and I did many stupid stuff because of the bible. Now, I am matured and I am an atheist. Exposure helps. The first set of atheists I came across on nairaland were Donffd (will never forget him), edibleketara and some others. They ganged up against me in one thread to argue against my religious beliefs.

Anyways, religious beliefs are not harmless. To survive, man needs the truth so as to make realistic approaches to solve his problems. Unrealist approaches can be dangerous. This is why I bash and debunk religious claims and why I am an anti-theist.

CodeSapien:
Faith is needed to press and not everybody who claims to have faith actually do. Some just profess it out of desperation to get cured or out of love of what they are after.

Martinez39:
Lol. Many people are dying from rejecting medicine and using faith but you don't get to see them on the news instead more focus is given to the hypocrites called moderates who conveniently interpret the scripture to their convenience because everyone wants to hear that christianity is good and harmless. This suits people's feelings even though it's at the expense of reality.

I remember when I started taking this faith thing seriously and started getting involved in new generational churches, I decided to apply my faith to cure malaria. I snubbed my antimalarial for faith and I kid you not. What saved me was that I was at home due to the holiday and the excited me told my mum about my so called works of faith. There was fire on the mountain . My mum went hysterical and was pleading with me take my medication but I stood my ground and was wondering why my mum, being a christian, wasn't in support of my action, the irony. I later took my drugs after being talked into it by my cell leader who said "For peace to reign, obey your mum. It's not the drug that would heal you, it's Jesus." Can you imagine. This was many years ago and I wondered what would have happened if I was in the hostel and away from my mum's supervision. I was a small boy then and being an introvert and growing up in a household that is full of heavy (I really meany heavy) indoctrination into believing spiritual stuffs didn't help matters.

My mum hypocrisy got me wondering. Why would this woman who claim to be a christian and heavily believes in spiritual stuff act as if faith is magical thinking? I sensed this same hypocrisy in all christians I knew. It was always the same "we believe in god" but acting and thinking like god doesn't exist. I later started mixing out with people, joined nairaland and started observing human life. I came to the conclusion that despite the so much noise about god's existence and power, nature always took it's course regardless of what we believe. Religious people who have terminal cancer always end up dying. As a medical student then, I once asked myself "why am I studying medicine if there is faith healing?" Mehn, I was a young boy then and I did many stupid stuff because of the bible. Now, I am matured and I am an atheist. Exposure helps. The first set of atheists I came across on nairaland were Donffd (will never forget him), edibleketara and some others. They ganged up against me in one thread to argue against my religious beliefs.

Anyways, religious beliefs are not harmless. To survive, man needs the truth so as to make realistic approaches to solve his problems. Unrealist approaches can be dangerous. This is why I bash and debunk religious claims and why I am an anti-theist.

frosbel2:



You absolutely nailed it !!

I feel deeply sorrowful for many Nigerians who cannot afford the vital medicine needed for their healing or recovery , and are then taken advantage of by charlatan church leaders who promise them healing but instead , lead them to the gates of death and sometimes to death itself.

frosbel2:


What utter drivel. And the fact that you say they have no faith, means that the word of God being preached every Sunday is of no effect in the lives of the majority of Christians, because the majority of them live with the fact of unanswered prayers. Your pastors should resign and get new careers.

There are millions out there who TRUSTED Jesus for HEALING but he failed them, because he is either not real or is buried in the dust of the earth.