Mother And Son Accused Of "Death By Fire" Chants At 'Witch' Neighbour

Mother and son born again Christians, accused of harassing their young mum neighbour with ‘death by fire’ chants, told a court today they were protecting themselves against witchcraft.

Leonora Joseph, 76, and her son Mark Joseph, 56, claim their neighbour, who has a young child, is possessed by the devil.

The Joseph’s, of Cromwell Road, Wimbledon have both pleaded not guilty to harassing neighbour Samantha Ginsburg on August 27, last year.

Wimbledon Magistrates Court heard they shouted and chanted: ‘death to Samantha’ and ‘death by fire’ outside the converted property despite previous police harassment warnings.

Today District Judge Andrew Sweet set a new trial date for March 28.

Mrs Joseph told him from the dock: “We are born-again Christians. This witchcraft is not practised openly and in past times they were burned at the stake. 

“The devil is the deceiver. He does everything in secret.

“They are always accusing the person they have attacked and they now use witchcraft as entertainment, magic.”

Mrs Joseph told the court she was simply quoting Psalm 94 Verse 1 of the Bible to protect herself from witchcraft.

Her son told the court they were living in “relative peace” with Samantha and her partner as neighbours for seven years until mysterious things began happening.

“There was a deterioration in our living standards that we have not experienced before.”

He claimed his mother was struck by a mysterious life-threatening illness in 2016. “Her vital signs were shutting down for a minute or so.

“For the first time in her life she had to go to hospital for a life or death issue.

“Over a period of time she was unable to walk. She was virtually bedridden for months, unable to go to the bathroom because she had becomes weak.

“There were a number of sicknesses and there was no diagnosis.”

Mr. Joseph said his mother spent 18 days in hospital. “They were unable to work out what was wrong with her.

“Now, thanks to God, she is able to move around and had her health.”

Regarding the charges he added: “This is a spiritual matter, not something that can be dealt with by any court of law or the police.

“We had been praying the word of God as our only defence, reading from the word of God. This is our way of dealing with it spiritually.”