Voodoo Mom Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Burning Daughter
Christina Carrega, New York Post, June 6, 2011
A monster mom tried to soften her tale of setting a six-year-old daughter on fire in a voodoo ritual even as she pleaded guilty to the “barbaric” crime today–but a Queens judge would have none of it as he coaxed the truth from her and then sentenced the woman to 17 years behind bars.
Marie Lauradin, 29, pleaded guilty to assault last month for setting little Frantzcia Saintil on fire in a ritual called “Loa.” But in a pre-sentencing report she changed her story, saying she was merely “rubbing [Frantzcia] down with alcohol because she was sick with fever when a nearby candle fell and set her on fire.”
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Lauradin’s mother, Sylvenie Thessier, 70, stood by while 25 percent of her granddaughter’s body was covered with second- and third-degree burns–including her face.
Thessier pleaded guilty to reckless assault earlier this year and was sentenced in April to 1 to 3 years in prison.
The mother and daughter duo both face deportation to Haiti upon completion of their sentences.
