Chifubu Residents Riot Over Witchcraft Claims

A SEVENY -year-old woman of Chifubu Township in Ndola yesterday had her house burnt to ashes after she allegedly confessed to practicing witchcraft.
Officers from the fire brigade managed to quench the fire but only after nothing much had remained of her former house, save for a few artifacts she and her grand children managed to salvage through the smoldering fire.
Luta Kunda is said to have inexplicably confessed to being a wizard and having been behind the death of more than five people in her area which angered her neighbours.
Only quick action from police, who whisked her to Chifubu Police Station for her own safety, rescued her from being burnt in her clay moulded house number CH 13.
Police fired teargas canisters to disperse the unrelenting residents some of whom were found sifting the possessions of Ms Kunda’s neighbour whose house was also razed in the confusion.
Chifubu residents were further incensed when one of the teargas canisters landed in a house of a visibly impaired woman who was nursing a four-month old baby with both mother and baby having to be rescued by the mob.
A Times crew found Ms Kunda, who has a hearing problem, in the safety of Chifubu police but with bruises on the forehead and a swollen face which she must have incurred through a beating before police officers rescued her from her assailants.
Earlier, what proved to be an eventful Sunday for the Chifubu residents, a body of a man believed to be in his 30s was found floating in a stream.
Pockets of residents gathered near the stream as early as 07:00 hours to watch the floating body until police picked it up around 10:00 hours.
Police officers at Chifubu police named the deceased as Augustine Chenjelani whose body was currently in the Ndola Central Hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem tomorrow.
The cause of death for Mr Chenjelani was not immediately clear as his body showed no signs of bruises or cuts.

Posted by Admin on October 22, 2012. Filed under CRIME. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry