Sunday, February 21, 2016

Albino girl, five, kidnapped and killed by bandits who cut off her arm for 'WITCHCRAFT'

Kazungu Kassim (R), head of a Burundi albino association, listens to proceedings inside a courtroom in Ruyigi, eastern Burundi, May 28, 2009. Prosecutors in Burundi on Thursday asked for life sentences for three people on trial for allegedly murdering albinos to sell their body parts for use in witchcraft

A FIVE-year-old albino girl has been kidnapped and killed by gunmen – who cut off her arm to use in WITCHCRAFT, it is feared.

The bandits stormed into the child's home in Burundi in the early hours of Wednesday morning, attacking her parents before abducting her.

They were pursued by the family's neighbours, who later discovered the girl's dismembered body.
A source said: “They had taken one of her arms.”

An investigation has been launched into the girl's death, but police are certain the gunmen were targeting the girl as nothing else was taken from the property.
It is the first reported killing of a person with albinism in Burundi for four years.
Albinos have been murdered in the past so their body parts can be used in witchcraft rituals.
More than 20 albino people have been killed in the eastern African country since 2008.
It is the first reported killing of a person with albinism in Burundi for four years
It is the first reported killing of a person with albinism in Burundi for four years Reuters

Although a dozen people were charged in 2009 for murdering or plotting to murder albinos, all of the convicts managed to escape two years later.
In neighbouring Tanzania, a worryingly lucrative black market trade in the organs and body parts of albino people means an entire corpse can sell for as much as £50,000.
Witch doctors perform charms and spells using albino body parts, claiming they can bring good luck and wealth.



No comments:

Post a Comment

"mungo park" by Coredo Bello