Associated Press

DALLAS -- Myra Obasi and her sisters say they were fleeing the devil.

They gave away their children, tried to drive into traffic and off bridges, and eventually abandoned their car, saying it was cursed.

Finally, prosecutors say, they tried to remove the evil possessing Obasi by pummelling her and gouging out her eyeballs, possibly with their fingernails.

A jury Wednesday began deliberating the case against Doretha Crawford, 34, and Beverly Johnson, 35 both of Arcadia, La. They are charged with aggravated assault against their now-blind sister.

The three sisters all say they don't know how Obasi was blinded.

The women do say that they left Arcadia, a pine-forested town of about 3,000 people, because a local voodoo man told them a devil was trying to kill them.

During the two-day trip, the women--afraid the devil had caught up with them--left their five children with strangers in Marshall, Tex., 150 kilometres from home. The youngsters were eventually returned to the family.

Later, Obasi began trying to drive into traffic and off bridges. Police found them stopped outside Dallas and were told by the sisters that there was a curse on the car.

The siblings then hitchhiked into Dallas, about 320 kilometres from where they started, where they were seen praying and begging for help on March 18.

Dorothy Hughes, a teacher who spotted the women on her morning walk, said the sisters pummelled and prayed with Obasi, who offered no resistance.

"Her eyes were very red," she said. "I just had not seen eyes like that before. They were blood red." Doctors testified that they eyes were removed by something sharp, possibly fingernails.

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