Children 'force fed raw chillies'

Two Mormon churchgoers stung children with nettles and made them eat raw chillies, a court has been told.

Deirdre Carrington, 41, of Chiswick, west London, and Maria Keable, 60, from Ramsgate, Kent, deny six counts of child cruelty and one of assault.

Canterbury Crown Court heard the friends subjected six children to nine years of physical and mental cruelty.

Prosecutor Robin Johnson said: "This was a case of two women who were completely out of control."

The best friends, who met through the Mormon church 10 years ago, both lived in Ramsgate at the time of the alleged offences between 1997 and 2006.

'Emotional problems'

The jury heard the pair routinely committed "disgraceful" acts on the children, hitting them with rolling pins, force-feeding them raw eggs and lining them up in a row to be punched and kicked.

Other "punishments" included making them eat raw chillies.

They were also forced to sting each other with nettles, while one boy was gagged, tied to a bed and covered with a sheet.

Ms Keable, who is Macedonian, told police that "in her country, the use of chilli was normal" and that "my own mother used it", Mr Johnson said.

She believed "her motives were Christian", he added.

Ms Carrington told police she was having "emotional problems" when she made a girl eat chilli powder.

The case continues.