The suspects claimed the attack was motivated by a long-running dispute involving their neighbors performing 'witchcraft' and 'voodoo' acts.
A mother and son are behind bars after attacking their neighbors at their Phoenix home on Sept. 29.The pair claim they were the targets of witchcraft. The dispute between the two neighbors has reportedly gone on for years, with both parties pointing fingers at each other.
Gabriela Martinez and Alberto Ayala face charges of armed robbery. Court documents claim the mother and son attacked their neighbors with a metal pipe, leaving them both with gashes on their head and necks before stealing their cell phones. One of the suspects is also accused of removing a gray metal necklace from one of the victims. When Phoenix police arrived at the home, a metal pipe with red blood stains was found in the front room and a "large pool of blood" in the driveway of the victims' home, according to a probable cause statement. Home surveillance video captured both pairs of neighbors verbally arguing. When Martinez and Ayala hopped the wall onto the victims' property, one a victim armed himself with a metal pole, while Martinez grabbed a rock. That's when a physical altercation ensued, as it moved out of camera view."Seven years, I call the police, call the police, call the police," Pablo Santiago, Martinez’s long-time boyfriend said.Both parties claim it all started with witchcraft and continuous acts being performed on voodoo dolls. Santiago said the back-and-forth voodoo was causing his partner so much pain it was keeping her up at night."He’s doing witchcraft, like satanic stuff," Santiago said. "He’s over there poking the dolly’s. Right when he sees me on the camera, you can start feeling him poking you in your body."In police interviews, Ayala said his mother was fed up, claiming he came to her defense and jumped the wall to fight his neighbor and put an end to the voodoo. Ayala also claimed the male neighbor told him to come over the half-wall so they could fight. During this altercation, he noticed his mother, Martinez, was "exchanging punches" the female neighbor, the probable cause statement said. The victims declined a request for an interview. The two suspects are in jail, both being held on a $5,000 secured bond.
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