[luspikals]

BUKIT MERTAJAM - Eight people will be charged in the case of a toddler who died during a suspected 20-hour exorcism ritual in Taman Bukit Minyak here.

Central Seberang Prai OCPD Asst Comm Azman Abd Lah said the police had forwarded the investigation papers to the Deputy Public Prosecutor's office to charge the eight people, aged between 20 and 60.

"During the course of our investigation, we recorded statements from 15 witnesses, including their relatives and neighbours," he said after attending the Ops Selamat campaign at the Juru Toll Plaza yesterday.

Declining further comment, ACP Azman said the statements would assist the police in the case.

He said three men and five women, including the child's parents, had also been remanded until Friday.

In the Aug 5 incident, police stor*med the house and found a group of eight people lying on top of the girl, aged two years and nine months.

She was lying under the human pile made up of her parents, grandmother, uncle, aunt, two cousins and their Indonesian maid.