“The Will of God” Nu††er Wa†ch
SAN JOSE, Calif. — On Sept. 24 at 6:30 a.m., Arely’s mother and uncle drove her to the church. The girl’s mother, uncle, and grandfather held Arely down by her neck, torso, and legs for several hours. They attempted to make her vomit by sticking fingers and hands down her throat.
Arely lost consciousness and suffered “multiple injuries around her eyes, face, neck, and chest,” Wise wrote in court documents.
Arely died around 6:30 p.m. after 12 hours of torture, court documents state. Hernandez told police that no one performed medical assistance to help the girl before or after she died. The family waited until 8:12 p.m. to call 911.
A 3-year-old girl whose death last fall has been ruled a homicide was the subject of an alleged exorcism last year at a Northern California Pentecostal church.
The child, Arely Naomi Proctor, died last September after family members performed a ceremony to “liberate her of her evil spirits,” church officials told the San Jose Mercury News. The Santa Clara County medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide caused by asphyxiation.
The girl’s mother, Claudia Hernandez, was charged with assault on a child resulting in death. The Associated Press could not immediately determine whether Hernandez has an attorney.
God Killed Her
“If you read the Bible, you’ll see that Jesus casts away demons and made sick people healthy again,” said Rene Huezo, pastor of Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas and grandfather of the victim. “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.”
Arely Naomi Proctor’s death by asphyxiation has been ruled a homicide by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner’s office. Her mother, Claudia Hernandez, who authorities say withheld food from the girl and squeezed her neck during the exorcism, has been arrested and charged with assault on a child resulting in death. But neither Huezo nor the victim’s uncle, both of whom allegedly held the girl down as the ceremony continued, have been charged in the incident at the church on the 1000 block of South Second Street in San Jose.
Looking visibly anxious and upset after a Sunday evening church service, Huezo, who performed the exorcism on Proctor in September, said that he feels a lot of pain at the death of his grandchild. It’s difficult for people to understand what happened, he said, but “it’s the stuff of God, and everything is in the will of God no matter how small or big.”
