Woman was tortured, assaulted and forced to eat dog faeces

INSIDE a shed on a remote hillside of a coalfield community in Vancouver, Canada, authorities say, a young black woman was tortured for days, sexually assaulted, beaten and forced to eat dog droppings.

Her captors, all white, choked her with a cable, stabbed her in the leg, poured hot water over her and made her drink from a toilet, according to criminal complaints. It wasn’t until an anonymous tip led sheriff’s deputies to the property that her ordeal ended and she was able to limp to safety, arms outstretched as she cried: “Help me!”

The FBI is investigating the case as a possible hate crime.

At one point, an assailant cut the woman’s ankle with a knife and called her a “nigger” while telling her she was victimised because she is black, authorities said. They said she was also forced to eat dog faeces.

Investigators are trying to determine how the woman ended up at the property and whether she knew any of the six people arrested or two others, suspected of driving her to the home, who are being sought, said Logan County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy VK Dingess.

Police tape surrounds the entrances to the mobile home where Megan Williams, 20, was found. An extension cord runs from the home to the cramped shed, which authorities say she was held in with a portable stereo, a locker and a power saw.

Ms Williams’s mother Carmen Williams said she wanted people to know what her daughter endured.

“I don’t understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter,” she said yesterday from her daughter’s hospital room. “I didn’t know there were people like that out here.”

Ms Williams, her right arm in a cast, may be well enough to leave hospital within days, her mother said. “I just want my daughter to be well and recover. I know the Lord can do anything.”

The suspects in the case have arrest records going back several years, according to records from Logan County Magistrate Court.

Since 1991, police have filed 108 criminal charges against the six.

In the Williams case, Frankie Brewster, 49, who owns the mobile home, was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation. Her son Bobby Brewster, 24, was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.

Danny Combs, 20, was charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding.

Karen Burton was charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Alisha Burton and George Messer, 27, were charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

All six remained in custody yesterday in lieu of C$100,000 bail each.