Durham families describe anguish in 'cult' murder sentencing, Girl claims father gang-raped her

Durham families describe anguish in 'cult' murder sentencing
Jun 27, 2013  By WNCN Staff
DURHAM, N.C. -  Two people charged in connection with killing a 4-year-old boy and 29-year-old woman, were sentenced in a Durham courtroom Thursday. Vania Sisk and Larhonda Smith were sentenced in the so-called "cult murders."

Peter Moses, the alleged ringleader of the cult, known as the "Black Hebrews," was expected to be sentenced, but his case was delayed due to an attorney's scheduling conflict. The three are the final people to be sentenced in the 2010 deaths of Jadon Higganbothan, 4, and Antionetta McKoy, 29.

Moses previously pled guilty in the deaths of Higganbothan and McKoy. He faces two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Sisk pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, accessory after the fact, first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder as part of a plea deal. Sisk received two consolidated sentences, each of up to nearly 19 years in prison. A plea deal reduced the amount of time she would have originally served for the crimes. She will received mental health treatment during prison and the judge said she could enroll in a work release program if eligible at some point....

During Thursday's sentencing, Sisk's defense attorney said Moses had control of his followers and controlled all women in the house. The defense attorney said that Moses set himself up as a "king" and "tyrant" and ruled over those in the home.

According to Sisk's defense team, Moses recorded videos where he said men were better than women and that when women submit themselves to their husband, they submit themselves to the Lord....
http://www.wncn.com/story/22700314/durham-families-describe-anguish-in-cult-murder-sentencing

Girl claims father gang-raped her
By Anna Sheinman, June 27, 2013

A 16-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl was drugged, bound and blindfolded and then gang-raped by her father and his friends, a court heard this week.

The alleged victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said that on two occasions her father tied her hands together, covered her eyes with a blindfold and drove her for about 20 minutes to an unknown location, where six or seven men assaulted, raped and tortured her.

She said that large clips were attached to her breasts and electric shocks passed through them. On one occasion she said the men assaulted her with a live snake. In video evidence played in court, she said: “They put a snake on my body, I could feel there was a snake.”

She also claimed that on another occasion, she was ordered to perform sexual acts on a woman, but refused and started “kicking and screaming”. She told the court that she had suffered abuse at the hands of her father over a period of seven years.

She said she was beaten if she resisted: “After a bit I felt mentally owned by them, they didn’t have to force me, they would just tell me and I would listen.”

The girl, who is now 18, claimed the abuse began with her father forcing her to take showers with him when she was 10. She said it escalated to rape when she was 14. When she was 16, she said her father began to facilitate her abuse by a family friend, the father of a classmate at the Jewish school she attended....
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/109026/girl-claims-father-gang-raped-her