Three charged with witchcraft killings of boys

Father and two female relatives admit 'heavenly rituals' - By Lorna Martin

THREE people appeared in court in Malawi's capital yesterday, charged with murdering two children in an attempt to rid them of evil spirits.

The children, aged three and two months, died on Sunday after their father, his sister, and his aunt allegedly pierced their anuses with a sharpened rod.

Clifford Bwanali, Maureen Bwanali, his sister, and Rhoda Chikoko, his aunt, who claims to have been resurrected from the grave and sent by ancestral spirits to cleanse the family of witchcraft, appeared at a magistrates' court in Blantyre.

Rhoda Bwanali, the children's mother, was released after police said she was not involved in the killing of Frank, the three-year-old, and baby Enock.

However, a spokesman said police would continue to investigate her role after neighbours said that four adults had locked themselves in their mud hut in the slum township of Manase since last Thursday.

Courage Chimwere, a neighbour, said the murders had caused profound shock.

"People heard cries from the house and went to find out what was happening," he said, "but when they asked, they were told that they were praying for the children to remove bad spirits."

He said locals became impatient when the screams continued and broke into the house. "People were shocked when they entered the house, blood was all over the place, and because of their anger they started beating the four adults."

In court, Chikoko stood up and started hurling insults at police. "You policemen, do you know that I can kill you? God sent me here to do his work and you are arresting me . . . if you want, go and ask him (God) about me, he will tell you. Take me to the toilet, you fools, I am not a sinner."

She was removed from the court and the three were remanded in custody.

Outside, Mr Bwanali said he could not understand why he had been arrested. "My children are not dead, they are all alive. They are just resting. By the way, why accuse me of killing my own children? Even if I killed them, what's wrong?

"My aunt was only trying to perform her heavenly rituals. She is an angel. My children are still living and that is strictly our family business."

When asked what he, his wife, sister, and aunt were doing for four days in the house, he laughed and said: "We were praying to God to deliver us from evil. Let me tell you my family and I, my father and mother, are great witches and wizards.

"My children were also great in witchcraft, they were taught before they were born. Now they are clean."

Sumani, the village chief, said Mr Bwanali had previously told her that he used to drink human blood and eat human flesh with his wife and children.

She said: "He said his aunt Rhoda Chikoko had died a year ago and had come back to life to cleanse their family."

Malawi, which is in the grip of a devastating famine and Aids pandemic, has a traditional culture based on the powers of the ancestral spirit and superstition.

From November 14, 2002 The Electronic Herald.

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Modern Parallels: The Witchcraze Today is copyright to Shantell Powell. Articles are copyright their respective authors.