《中英對照讀新聞》Three jailed in British "witchcraft" case英國「巫術」案3人坐牢

◎張其賢

A British court jailed three people recently for a total of 24 years for child cruelty to an 8-year-old Angolan girl they believed was a witch.

1個英國法庭最近將3個人判處總共24年徒刑，因為他們對1名他們認為是個女巫的8歲大安哥拉小女孩做出虐童行為。

London's Old Bailey convicted the girl's aunt, who cannot be named for legal reasons, a woman called Sita Kisanga and her brother Sebastian Pinto after hearing how the girl was subjected to 14 months of physical and mental abuse as they tried to exorcise “evil spirits” from her.

在聽取被告試圖驅走女孩身上的「惡靈」、從而使女孩受到14個月的身心虐待之後，倫敦的中央刑事法庭判定女孩的阿姨（因法律原因姑隱其名）、1個名叫西塔．琪珊加的婦人以及她的兄弟賽巴斯欽．平托有罪。

One of the three beat the girl with a high-heeled shoe and rubbed chilli pepper in her eyes. The women then stuffed the girl into a large laundry bag and threatened to throw her into a London canal.

3名被告之1用1隻高跟鞋毆打小女孩，並把辣椒揉進她的雙眼。2名被告婦人還把女孩塞進1個大型洗衣袋內，揚言要把她扔進倫敦的1條運河裡。

“The account given by that little girl was so awful it was almost beyond belief,” judge Christopher Moss told the court. “The story told by her must have horrified all who heard it.” The girl was only saved by the intervention of a man who claimed to be her uncle, who warned the women they would go to jail if they were found out.

「那個小女孩所做的陳述，可怕到幾乎令人難以置信」，克里斯多福．莫斯法官在法庭上說。「她所說的經過肯定讓聽到的人全都感到駭異。」女孩因1名自稱是她舅舅的男子介入而獲救，他警告2名婦人如果被人發現，將會因此坐牢。

新聞辭典

witchcraft：名詞，巫術，妖術。字根是 witch，名詞，女巫。男巫師是 wizard。

child cruelty：名詞，虐待兒童的行為。cruelty 是名詞，指「殘酷」或「殘酷的行為」，如 animal cruelty 指「殘酷對待動物的行為」或「虐待動物」。

exorcise：動詞，驅魔。由這個字衍生出的字有 exorcism，名詞，驅魔儀式；exorcist，名詞，進行驅魔儀式的人，電影「大法師」的英文片名就是 The Exorcist。

Old Bailey：名詞，坐落在倫敦老貝里街（Old Bailey）的中央刑事法庭。Old Bailey 是英國最重要的刑事法庭，負責審理重大刑事案件，民眾可在此看到戴著假髮的英國法官和大律師們問案出庭的情形。