Mumsnet Talk

I think my sweetheart's nephew could be suffering from demonic possession! I know it's not cool to consider this sort of thing in this day and age but when I look into his eyes it scares me. It's like there is no soul there, they are just so cold and inhuman - not a trace of compassion.

I feel guilty because my sweetheart's sister-in law just turns up at our house out of the blue without even considering whether we have plans or the inconvenience it might cause. Anyway, she came last week and I saw her on the path outside our house so I hid upstairs like a coward until she went away. It is so humiliating having to hide in your own house.

But this boy scares me. At his school there are problems because he has to see a pyschiatrist after pushing another child to the floor and repeatedly kicking him in the head. The other child's parents wanted him expelled but the school has a 'no exclusion' policy, so lucky for him. I know how they feel because he jumped on my cat once and tried to bite off its tail. He partially severed it and it had to be amputated. He picks things up and is always smashing stuff, and his mother says there is nothing she can do about it so he just behaves like a wild animal. I don't want him in my house - this isn't a normal little boy misbehaving, I think there is real evil in there.

The doctors have there theories, I have mine. I come from a church going family and the more I think about it the more I become convinced he could be possessed by a demon. I spoke to my minister about it and although he has no expertise in the area he has read of instances where children have been possessed (and apparently is quite common in Islam), and from my description he said he can't rule it out but would need to actually examine the child himself. I have been thinking of offering to babysit the child for the day (I know his mother would leap at the chance to foist him on to us) and to take him to see the priest. The way I see it even if he performs an exorcism and demonic possession isn't the cause, at least we will know for sure. I think if I just knew it was a mental sickness I wouldn't be so afraid of him and could make more effort.

My sweetheart is very unsure because his family is not religious at all and he says they would be furious if they found out I'd got someone to perform an exorcism on the child. I'm just at my wits end and I am in a genuine quandary about how to tackle this...