A PREACHER at a tiny church in Wisconsin was under arrest last night after an eight-year-old autistic boy died during a prayer service in which he was wrapped in sheets to exorcise “evil spirits”.

As detectives in Milwaukee tried to determine how Torrance Cantrell died, after he was restrained by his mother and fellow worshippers for more than an hour, one of the boy’s neighbours said that she had frequently witnessed church members beating the boy to “cure” him.

Ray Hemphill, a minister at the Faith Temple Church of the Apolostic Faith, was being held at the Milwaukee county jail on suspicion of physical abuse of a child.

“Circumstances are suspicious because most eight- year-olds don’t just die,” Linda Haynes, a Milwaukee police captain, said. “Unless there’s a medical condition, which we are not aware of at this time, the boy did not die of natural causes.” The church, situated in a small shopping mall and with a congregation of about eight, was investigated in 1998 after a mother struck her 12-year-old daughter with a stick during a service. The girl suffered bruises and cuts. No charges were filed.

David Hemphill, the church pastor and brother of the arrested man, said that he had rushed to the church after one of the four worshippers called to say the boy was not breathing. “He just passed away,” Mr Hemphill said. “God is a mysterious person, and if he wants to call a life back, he does.” Church members had wrapped the boy in sheets to stop him scratching himself and others, Mr Hemphill said.

The boy’s grandmother blamed his death on the prayer service. “They was trying to drive out some kind of evil spirit,” Mary Luckett told a local television station. “They held the boy down, they held him down until he went to a smothery grave.”

Although no charges have been brought and results of a post-mortem examination are awaited, the case has evoked memories of the death of a ten-year-old girl in Colorado two years ago. Candace Newmaker suffocated while wrapped in blankets during a “rebirthing” session overseen by her adoptive mother. Two psychologists, Connell Watkins and Julie Ponder, were convicted of reckless child abuse and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Mr Hemphill said that Patricia Cooper, the dead boy’s mother, had gone to the church seeking help about three months ago. She had said that her son was in danger of being institutionalised because he was violent toward himself and to his two-year-old sister.

Mr Hemphill’s wife, Pamela, said that the sessions would usually last about two hours. “Sometimes he kicks and scratches and throws himself to the ground,” she said. “They hold his hand or maybe his feet and maybe take his shoes off.” At the session on Friday, Mrs Hemphill said, the boy was “unusually quiet. He seemed to be extremely tired. He just wiggled and moved a little, but not as much as usual.”

Denise Allison, 25, a neighbour, said that she and other neighbours had seen radical changes in Mrs Cooper’s behaviour since she joined the church. Once gregarious and energetic, the single mother had begun to live in near-seclusion, appearing to be dazed and exhausted.

Mrs Allison said that a church member had first approached Mrs Cooper when she was struggling to control Torrance outside their home. Church members had begun to take Mrs Cooper and Torrance to the church in a van up to four times a day for prayer.

Mrs Allison said that Mrs Cooper had told her that during prayer sessions the congregation would hold down Torrance and strike him to try to heal him of his autism. She said that Friday’s session had sounded similar to one that the boy’s mother had recently told her about. “She called it an exorcism,” Mrs Allison said. “She said they held him down for almost two hours. He couldn’t hardly breathe, and that shocked her. They completely brainwashed Pat. She said the church told her it was the only way to heal him.”

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