NEW YORK
Syracuse.com
[with video]
By Elizabeth Doran | edoran@syracuse.com
UTICA, NY – Grace Leonard, sister of two teens beaten at the Word of Life Christian Church near Utica, testified Tuesday about abuse she said she suffered at the hands of her brothers.
She also described how the church pastor, Tiffanie Irwin, called out her brother, Lucas Leonard, in church and asked him to stand up and say why he wanted to leave the church. Grace Leonard testified her brother said he wanted to leave the church so he could molest little girls and get away with it.
Grace Leonard, 16, who was testifying in the trial of her sister, Sarah Ferguson, said the beatings happened in a counseling session after Sunday church service on Oct. 11, 2015.
Sarah Ferguson is accused of taking part in the beatings that killed one of her half-brothers, 19-year-old Lucas Leonard, and severely injured another half-brother, Christopher Leonard, 17, at the church in New Hartford.
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