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South Africa: Cops deny torture in muti murder case

Police officers investigating a muti murder involving a six-year-old Mpumalanga girl have denied torturing one of the accused into confessing to the crime. They were testifying on Thursday in a trial-within-a-trial where Sifiso Vilakazi, 25, Thabile Mnisi, 33, and Stella Zulu, 49, are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The court heard that Zulu was not acquitted from the crime, but had challenged the confession statement she said she was tortured into signing. This led to a separate trial for the court to establish if her allegations were true. The court heard Zulu was tortured with a plastic bag and suffocated during interrogations until she signed the confession.

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South Africa: Guilty verdict in muti murder trial

The two accused of brutally hacking a six year-old girl while she was alive, have been sentenced to life.  This after Judge Collin Lamot found Stella Zulu (49) and Sifiso Wonder Vilakazi (24) guilty of murder and abduction.

Lamot sentenced both to life for murder and 15 years for kidnapping the child. The sentences would run concurrently.

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Ghana: Witches and wizards eating NPP away

The Women’s Organiser of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Otiko Djaba says witches and wizards in the party are eating the NPP away. “They are the witches and the wizards in this party that are taking us back. We will not agree”, she warned.

Otiko Djaba is seeking to retain her position in the party’s upcoming annual national delegates’ congress scheduled for April 12, 2014 in the Northern regional capital Tamale.

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Saudi Arabia: Saudi boy claims ‘jinn’ chased him after killing snake

An 18-year-old Saudi boy believes a female jinn (ghost) chased him just after he killed a yellow snake and a scholar said the snake itself could have been gripped by jinn.

“We killed the snake and went to a restaurant to have a meal. On the way back home, I felt very tired and hot… Suddenly I saw before me a short naked woman staring at me. I was so frightened that I jumped out of the car while it was going at high speed,” Hussam told the Saudi Arabic language daily ‘Okaz’.

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Kenya: 2 Suspected Witches Lynched In Kisii

The two elderly women aged 66 and 71 were set ablaze on allegations of bewitching a 14 year old boy on Monday night.

According to the area chief, the 2 were dragged from their homes and set ablaze by irate members of public after the 14 year old boy claimed that the 2 had taken him at night and walked him the whole night.

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India: NHRC notice to Chhattisgarh over assault on woman

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Tuesday issued notice to Chhattisgarh over the assault of a 65-year-old woman suspected of practicing witchcraft.

As per media reports, the woman was brutally beaten and her head tonsured after she was suspected of practicing witchcraft by people of Korba district.

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South Africa: Mpuma court hears of muti murder

A  six-year-old Mpumalanga girl was left in the care of a woman who was later charged with the child’s muti murder, a Nelspruit court heard on Tuesday.

Her mother Goodness Mahlalela, 33, told the court her child, Dimakatso Shabangu, went missing on April 21, 2009 while in the care of her child minder, Mnisi.

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Kenya: Witch doctors told not to advertise

The Mombasa government has warned witch doctors against putting up signposts advertising their services. The county inspectorate yesterday conducted an operation in which they removed hundreds of the signposts in and around the central business district.

The department’s island divisional commander, James Kinara, who led the operation, said the signposts are illegal and portray the county as a witchcraft zone. He said apart from making the county dirty and untidy, the signposts are not paid for.

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Ghana: Omanhene orders probe into witchcraft saga

The Swedruhene, and Acting President of the Nyakrom Traditional Council, Nana Ogidigram Odiowusiw Aseidu Kobina Botwe the Second, has ordered a full scale investigation into revelations made by the Omankrado of Agona Abodom, having confessed of possessing witchcraft .

About three weeks ago, Nana Kwao was said to have confessed before the chiefs and his own family members that he had used his witchcraft powers to lock up the development of the town with one big padlock, and placed it under a tree in front of his Asona Family palace.

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India: Witch hunting: Victims of superstition

The National Crime Records Bureau says 2,097 murders were committed between 2000 and 2012 where witch hunting was the motive.  Apart from Jharkhand, at least 11 other states—Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam and Bihar—still report cases of witch hunting.

Once practised only by tribal communities, witch hunting is now becoming common among Dalits and other minority communities.

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