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| Leonora & Mark Joseph Today |
Leonora Joseph, 76, and her son Mark Joseph, 56, who claim they are “born again”, targeted 45 year-old Samantha Ginsburg and her 7 year-old autistic daughter, the trial was told.
The Joseph’s, of Cromwell Road, Wimbledon have both pleaded not guilty to harassing upstairs neighbour Ms Ginsburg between August 27 and November 30, last year.
The charge accuses both Joseph’s of shouting: “Death by fire,” playing their television loudly and calling their neighbour’s young daughter a: “Witch.”
After Ms Ginsburg eventually reported them to the police she logged 38 separate incidents between August 28 and making a second police statement on January 4, this year.
She told Wimbledon Magistrates Court: “I think they believe I am a witch and I am teaching my daughter to be the next witch.
“They put crosses in the window every time I pass by as well as Jesus signs.
“Last summer I began hearing chanting asking for an angel to come and slay the witch, who is me, and the landlord was also mentioned.
“They asked for our deaths by fire, to slay us and this went on for some time, louder and louder, angrier and angrier going from room to room.”
Ms Ginsburg shares her flat with a man and they both asked for the chanting to stop, she said. “They ignored us or laughed.”
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| Samantha Ginsburg |
“Sometimes it starts at 11.30pm, sometimes at 1.00am and lasts forty-five to ninety minutes.
“On occasion I was woken up or my daughter was woken up.
“It was bringing death and destruction, using my name and the landlord’s name. Bringing death by slaying or by fire to me or my flatmate.”
When asked if she was ever in physical fear Ms Ginsburg replied: “Yes, by fire.”
She added: “I stopped using the garden during the day because someone would be at the window chanting something.
“I did not want to go home. I can’t give my daughter freedom and independence. Was she safe?
“They would point fingers and say: ‘You’re evil. Jesus will punish you.’
“I was afraid, I did not know what to expect. I was mostly concerned for my daughter.
“I was shocked, saddened that people would do that.”
District Judge Andrew Sweet ejected Mrs Joseph from the courtroom after she ignored two warnings to be quiet and he overheard her saying: “….and kill them,” during Ms Ginsburg’s evidence.
However, this did not silence her and she told him: “May God be your judge. You have not done your homework. That’s why you do not know about spiritual matters.”
Prosecutor Mr. Philip Simpson told the court: “The Josephs believe the child is possessed by witches and the people who live in the flat upstairs are possessed by witches.
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| The Josephs Live Below Samantha |
“Some of these incidents were recorded on a mobile phone.”
Before the trial today Mr. Joseph claimed he and his mother were being persecuted for their religious beliefs. “We have found our Lord Jesus Christ in a new way and we have been true to our faith.
“We believe in our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ and we think it is unfair to be called delusional. It is very unfair that living as christians we have to endure spiritual warfare.”
During a previous court hearing Mrs Joseph said: “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.”
Trial continues…………..
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