Immediately after the incident Neelu and her son were rushed to Nagpur for treatment of their injuries, but both died before they could receive treatment. The neighbors who were involved in the attack have been arrested. Those who committed the horrifying crime fled the scene as on-lookers rushed in to help the victims. Police have begun an investigation into the incident.

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Police Public Relations Officer Ms. Elizabeth Kanjela announced that Phanele Lupiya aged 63 of Chakumanika Village in Petauke was axed to death by her nephew, Lovemore Mwanza, aged 30 of the same village.

“The victim sustained a deep cut on the leg and died on the spot. On the other hand Chakumanika Mwanza aged 89 was axed to death by his son Lemani Mwanza aged 23 of the above mentioned village. The deceased sustained a deep cut on the head and died on the spot. Both bodies are lying in Petauke District Hospital Mortuary,” Kanjela said.

Both incidents happened on 30th March, 2013 around 05:00 hours at Chakumanika village, Chief Nyampande in Petauke District.

“One suspect, Lovemore, has been apprehended while the other one Lemani is on the run. We have lunched a manhunt and we request for information that might lead to his arrest from the members of the public.”

Links

• Original Article @ Zambian Watchdog

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Kenya: Gang Burns Houses Over Witchcraft Allegations

Fifteen family members of the Talai clan in Nandi County, Kenya are camping at a church after attackers who accused them of being witches torched their houses. Seven houses were set ablaze by unidentified attackers, prompting the family members to flee from their homes.

Former Kapsisiywa concillor, David Sulo, who is also a Talai member, condemned the incident and called for Government intervention. He said that the victims were evicted by neighbors who accused them of being behind misfortunes in the area attributed to witchcraft.

Mr Sulo, however, said the evicted family has been residing there for over five decades and were in their rightful position.

Unknown people had threatened the victims through leaflets two months before the incident, he said. The victims said they had been threatened before but they ignored the threats since they were coexisting well with many neighbors.

Nigeria: Man Kills Mother And Only Daughter Over Witchcraft Allegations

A middle aged man identified as Temipreyo from Bomadi local government area of Delta State on Thursday hacked his mother and only daughter to death over allegations of witchcraft. Police authorities confirmed that the suspect, upon interrogation, confessed to committing the crime in frustration.

The suspect had been having a running battle with his wife over his inability to perform his “conjugal responsibility” and had sought assistance from various native doctors, one of whom accused his mother and late daughter as responsible for his plight.

Our source said that the man has been married to his new wife for six years but has not been able to make love to her after the mother of his late daughter packed out. Unconfirmed sources also stated that his late mother had allegedly threatened to make life uncomfortable for him over his refusal to sack his present wife in spite of the mother’s advice.

While efforts to confront the mother and his daughter over the allegation of witchcraft failed, the fisherman was said to have confided in a friend who advised him that the only solution was to kill.

Uganda: Man’s Head Cut Off Over “Witchcraft”

Police in Kayunga District are hunting for a group of residents in Tangoye Village over allegedly beheading one of their colleagues, whom they accused of being a witch. The district’s officer in-charge of investigations, Mr. Gally Turyatunga, said Siraje Kayondo was attacked on Saturday evening at about 7pm as he returned from his garden with a friend.

Turyatunga said the farmer was waylaid by a machete-wielding group and tied up before he was beheaded.

“After cutting off his head, they threw it in a nearby bush and ran away, leaving the body on the roadside,” the police said, adding that his friend was not touched.

In January this year, Kayondo’s house was razed by residents who accused him of using witchcraft to kill two residents. He managed to flee with his family and took refuge in Kayunga Town but ‘stealthily’ went to the village to till his garden.

The CID chief said a number of residents believed to have destroyed the house were arrested and arraigned before court where they were charged with malicious damage of property.

A busy week for witch hunters in Africa.

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On the opening day of her “trial” for witchcraft, Angela (not her real name) was tortured, humiliated and interrogated; an absurd prosecution in which she was in one moment accused of causing the deaths of those she was accused of harming, and the next being asked to give up the name of the real witch — “kolim nem, kolim nem [call the name]“, the gang demanded.

The next day, Angela was naked, staked-out, spread-eagled on a rough frame before a crowd of villagers, a blindfold tied over her eyes, a fire burning in a nearby drum. She breathed the smoke and felt the heat of the fire where the irons being used to burn her were warmed until they glowed. She knew what had happened to other women. One woman’s genitals had been burned and fused beyond functional repair by the repeated intrusions of red-hot irons.

The photographs witnesses took of Angela’s torture are shocking, both for the cruelty of the attackers and the torpid body-language of the spectators. Stone-faced men and women and wide-eyed children huddled under umbrellas, sheltering from the drenched highlands air as Angela writhed against the tethers at her wrists and ankles, twisting her body away from the length of hot iron which a young man aimed at her genitals.

It was around 5pm when they let Angela go, more than four hours after they began their assaults. When Angela’s elderly mother tried to attend to her they set upon her too, breaking her leg and her pelvis. Later a police car delivered Angela and her mother to a local clinic. Then a mob showed up, shouting and throwing stones on the clinic roof, insisting that the women be sent out. Fearing the clinic would be burned down, the clinic staff called the police.

A police officer arrived, and helped smuggle Angela and her mother away by car, taking them a long way away, eventually finding them care in another hospital. When their physical wounds were healed, Angela was relocated again. She has now joined the ranks of sorcery survivors who are not only damaged but forever displaced by their experiences, refugees within their own country.

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“With the power, he was able to kill one Emma Danjuma at Kugbo,” explained Mr. Udofia. “He said other people will also die.”

Udofia also said Mr. Yako’s claims had caused disturbance and a break down of peace in the area. He said the offence contravened Section 114 of the Penal Code.

Mr. Yako plead guilty to the charge, stating: “I was coming back from the farm when I heard that the some people were planning to kill me.

“I then ran to the police station for safety. I confessed all that happened. I have witchcraft. It was one Fulani woman who gave me the powers.

“I was able to kill one Danjuma. I was planning to kill another person when the news of my initial deed came to the notice of the people.”

The magistrate, Mr. Bashiru Alkali, convicted Yako and ordered him to be remanded in Keffi Prison until Jan. 28 for sentencing. Yajo has pleaded for leniency.

 To our ears, Mr. Yako’s statements sound like a coerced confession. But one could consider that it might be more dangerous to be at-large in Nigeria with the suspicion of witchcraft hanging over you (along with the very real possibility of being hacked to pieces with machetes by local villagers) than being in police custody. That’s the definition of being between a rock and a hard place.

One can only guess the reasoning behind Mr. Yako’s provocative confession.

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Identified as Bagit, also known as Diku Mardi, the brother-in-law told the police he had killed his sister-in-law for practicing witchcraft, which he said was causing his son’s illness. Bagit was arraigned in court and committed immediately to judicial custody.

The name of the victim has not yet been released.

Links

• IBN Live – original story
  

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HelpAge International believes that witchcraft allegations are often generated by wider problems in the community. Limited understanding of HIV and Aids as well as other illnesses, such as childhood diseases, can result in the belief that a family has been “bewitched”. In cases where husbands have died, widows are often blamed, providing a pretext for relatives of the deceased to deny them the right to inherit family assets.

Nyamizi, a 73-year-old widow from Sukumaland, was returning home from work one night when she was attacked by a man with a machete. He chopped off her hand and slashed her head, knocking her unconscious. Nyamizi was unconscious for a day and spent three weeks in hospital. When she left, she was told her case had already been heard in court and that she had lost it.

“I didn’t get justice because I couldn’t pay for it. No one takes action for those who are poor,” she said.

She had earlier received a threatening letter telling her to leave her village. Nyamizi believes it was sent by a neighbour whose child had died, and who was told by a traditional healer that she was responsible for the death using witchcraft. Traditional healers are often approached by those who have suffered a misfortune, illness, or death in the family, to identify who in the community has been “bewitching” them. The traditional healer usually points to an older, vulnerable woman in the village. Witches are said to have red eyes, a common feature of older women who spend their lifetime cooking for their families over smoky, inefficient stoves using poor quality fuel.

HelpAge and its local NGO partners have developed practical interventions to tackle some of the root causes of witchcraft accusations. They work with traditional healers and community police, helping to build houses and fuel-efficient stoves for vulnerable older women. These interventions also build community trust and motivate people to protect the older members of their community.

In the interim, however, the witch hunts continue.

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NEPAL: Relatives of a woman in the Padaul village, in the Mahottari district of south-eastern Nepal, have been torturing her for the past four years on the charge of practicing witchcraft. Kari Yadav of Ward No. 2 of the VDC said relatives of Chadrakala Devi, 35, thrashed and boycotted her for the past four years calling her a witch.

Chandrakala said she had to bear being beaten many times for practicing magic if anyone in her village falls ill or any sorrowful incidents occur.

Birendra Mandal, husband of Chandrakala, said torture is continued on her although an agreement was reached among her relatives, neighbors and her side by police, and different human rights organizations.

• Original Article →

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The naked body of María Berenice Martínez, 47,  was found inside her house with blows to the skull, her hair ripped out and apparetly  set afire. The killers had tied the door shut with a rope so she couldn’t escape. After killing Martinez, the murderers took her hair and some photos to the patio and set them on fire as her six dogs barked at them.

Police suspect two men of committing the crime, though Martinez’s sister – also named María – says more people may have known about the plot.

“I think a lot of people are involved,” Martínez told Colombian daily El Tiempo. “But it’s very difficult to accuse anyone.”

In an interview on Caracol Radio, Martínez’s sister said that a witch doctor had set the town against Maria, whom some members of the community accused of “casting spells, appearing in people’s dreams and driving them mad”. People in the town said Martínez used witchcraft to make young people sick.

Her neighbors had called her a witch since 1998, according to El Tiempo, but began to distrust her even more in March of last year, when three young women from the area said Martínez had appeared in their dreams.

After that, neighbors began to threaten her. Martínez went to the police in September of last year saying that her neighbors had contracted an occultist who recommended burning her alive, along with her belongings. The first act of violence against Martínez occurred several months ago when someone struck her in front of her house.

After the murder, Santa Barbara’s Parish Priest Jesus Antonio Bedoya called on the town to avoid accusing people of witchcraft.

“Witches don’t exist and such talk can wind up causing crimes like this,” Bedoya said, according to El Tiempo.

It is common for authorities there to ignore the complaints of women who say they are threatened, Antioquia’s Secretary for Gender told Colombian weekly Semana. The department receives some 10,000 reports each year of violence against women.

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“We believe there is a gang which is hired to carry the killings because not anyone can just go out and start executing people. We are looking for them to ensure the trend stops immediately,” Ayieko said .

He condemned the killings, saying the region is ripe with witchcraft beliefs which has seen eleven people killed in Kaloleni in the last six months alone over suspected witchcraft practices.

“There is this belief that someone has bewitched their daughters to become barren, families become poor or sick. This trend is rampant in the northern part of the coast with witchcraft being linked to old aged people in the society,” said Ayieko.

He warned members of the public to stop killing or taking any measures on their own and instead report for a proper judicial procedure on any suspected person in the community. Ayieko also called on the local community to seek professional medical attention when their family members fall sick and stop blaming ailments upon witchcraft.

Ayieko urged members of public to report any plans or information they come across concerning the killings and advised Kaya elders to help in addressing the issue to end the trend.

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