A 3-year-old girl died at the hands of her grandfather and uncle last fall during an exorcism and her death was now ruled a “homicide.”
Arely Naomi Practor passed away from asphyxiation, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner.
The incident occurred at the Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas church where Arely’s grandfather Rene Huezo was a pastor.
The man reportedly told churchgoers on a Sunday service that his granddaughter’s death was “upsetting” but that he accepted it as “the stuff of God” aiming to “liberate her of her evil spirits.”
“If you read the Bible, you’ll see that Jesus casts away demons and made sick people healthy again,” he said.
“It’s not when I want to do it, it’s when God, in his will, wants to heal the person. The preacher is like an instrument of God; what we do is what God says.”
Huezo was helped by the toddler’s uncle and mom who squeezed the child by the neck and denied her food.
