Priest, Four Nuns Crucified Their Sister During Horrific Exorcism Ritual

Priest Daniel Corogeanu praying for the deceased Irina Cornici  

A priest in a company of four nuns crucified a 23-year-old nun that finally led to her death in the city of Vaslui, Romania.
A scandalous incident of a priest who was jailed for seven years for killing a young woman in an exorcism ritual was brought to light by journalists and even inspired the screenplay for the film Beyond the Hills. Although the crime happened in 2005 the outcome of the case is still shrouded in mystery and doubt.

33-year-old priest, Daniel Corogeanu, in a company of four nuns, bound, gagged, strapped Irina Cornici to a cross and left her without food and water for five days at an isolated monastery. While the priest and nuns were detained on suspicion of willful murder they said they were just trying to help as she was possessed with the devil.


Daniel Corogeanu accompanied with the nuns a day after the failed exorcism ritual

According to their evidence, the servants of the Lord performed the exorcism ritual that would have ended successfully but for the priest called the ambulance when on the 5th day of "treatment" she fainted. Recalling the events that led to Irina’s death the priest said:

"I consider myself not guilty because Irina Conrici’s death was not down to the fact that we kept her locked up. We tied her up because she kept hitting and harming herself and we would have found her dead in her room eventually. I admit I tied her up and stuck a towel in her mouth and kept her like this for five days. I admit that I used to cover her mouth with tape while she took part in daily mass, but only because I did not want her to disturb the service.

Daniel Corogeanu was jailed for seven years after Irina’s death

Four nuns helped me tie her up and guarded Irina for days. They tried to give her food and water but she refused. All she accepted was holy water. This was the best solution for her because she had to recover from her constant agitation. Had I not called the ambulance, she would have been well now. It was the last stage of her exorcism and it is normal that a person possessed by demons faints when all the prayers end. She was supposed to recover after that."

As the investigation was over and the trial took place, the priest was given seven years in prison, one of the nuns – eight years and the other three received five-year sentences. Now the priest lives in a wooden hut in the forest, which he refuses to leave. It also emerged after Irina’s death she had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic and her ‘possession’ was unlikely to be more than a series of schizophrenic episodes.