Exorcism (this is 2012 not 2012 BC) kills a girl

A three-year-old girl was apparently smothered to death by eight people during an exorcism ritual here on Sunday night.

The toddler, identified only as Choy, died after being pinned down by her parents, relatives and the family maid with their bodies during a ritual ostensibly to chase away evil spirits in the family.

The child was already dead when police, responding to a distress call received from the child's uncle, stormed into the master-bedroom on the upper floor of the family house in Taman Bukit Minyak here at about 10pm.