Eleven people are accused taking part in a child sex ring allegedly involving witchcraft and satanic ‘seances’.
The seven men and four women faced a 14-page indictment listing 43 different charges during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow earlier this week.
Most of their accusations involve two girls and a boy allegedly abused at various addresses in the city between January 2010 and March 2020.
It is claimed the trio were raped at different times, while some of the group would ‘clap, cheer and verbally encourage’ while recording the abuse.
One of the girls was said to have been shut in a microwave, a freezer and an oven in an attempt to kill her.
Prosecutors say all 11 got the boy and the older girl to take part in ‘seances (and) use a Ouija board…to call on spirits and demons’.
They also allegedly got the children involved in ‘witchcraft’ leading them to believe that they themselves had ‘metamorphosed into animals’.
The 11 are further said to have worn cloaks and devil horns as well making the young boy stab a budgie to death.
The group are also accused of killing a number of dogs including getting the children to attack the animals.
Iain Owens, 43, Elaine Lannery, 38, Lesley Williams, 40, Paul Brannan, 40, Marianne Gallagher, 37, Scott Forbes, 49, Barry Watson, 46, Mark Carr, 49, Richard Gachagan, 44, Leona Laing, 50, and John Clark, 46, deny the charges they face.
Owens and Lannery first face a charge of neglecting the three youngsters, along with another child.
They, along with Williams, Brannan and Gallagher allegedly assaulted the young boy, including by putting him in a bath he was told was filled with blood.
One of the girls was allegedly told by Owens and Lannery that she was going to Turkey with a male stranger.
The pair, along with Williams, Brannan and Clark are also accused of the attempted murder of the younger of the two girls – starting when she was just weeks old – between December 2015 and June 2019.
She was allegedly hung by her jumper from a nail on the wall and is also thought to have been forced to ‘act like a dog’ and eat pet food.
Owens alone faces an indecent images accusation, and more charges that he raped the older girl, including with Watson, Brannan, Clark, and Forbes.
Lannery and Owens were further accused of a sex abuse involving the boy and the younger girl.
All 11 also allegedly abused the boy, and the men were said to have ‘cheered’ as it happened. Owens and Lannery are also claimed to have had sex in front of children.
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A separate allegation states all of the group were allegedly involved in the rape on various occasions of the older girl.
Prosecutors accuse Gachagan, Laing, Carr, Forbes and Watson of paying the children for ‘sexual services’, which Owens and Lannery allegedly helped ‘facilitate’.
Owens and Brannan go on to face an accusation of raping the boy, and, along with Lannery and Williams, are said to have made him watch a video of one of the girls being attacked.
Lannery is charged with molesting the younger girl before it is claimed she, Owens, Williams and Brannan raped her.
At one point the girl was allegedly held down in a cot at one point by all 11 members.
The women are accused of clapping and cheering while the boy and older girl were made to ‘operate a camera and create video footage’.
Owens and Lannery are also accused of threatening the older girl, disconnecting her call to police and disposing of items to avoid prosecution.
Judge Lord Beckett set an eight week trial at the High Court in Glasgow for September next year. A further hearing was also fixed for October.
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