A man accused of killing a teenage boy he thought was a witch cut the hair of a young woman to “release the witchcraft”, the Old Bailey has heard.
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Author Archives: Religion News Blog
‘Witch torture’ trial: Attack on teenager was ‘feral’
January 26, 2012 – 5:41 am
Violence inflicted on a teenager accused of being a witch was “wild” and “completely feral”, a witchcraft expert has told the Old Bailey.
Kristy Bamu, 15, drowned in a bath in his sister’s east London flat after he was was beaten and tortured in 2010.
Torture case couple were obsessed with witchcraft, court hears
January 10, 2012 – 4:45 am
A couple accused of torturing and killing a 15-year-old boy were “obsessed” with witchcraft and warned the boy’s parents they would kill him, his sister has told a court.
Boy ‘tortured and drowned’ over witchcraft claims, court told
January 5, 2012 – 4:39 am
A teenage boy underwent “unimaginable physical torture” before being drowned by his sister and her partner because they believed he was a sorcerer who was practising witchcraft, a court heard on Thursday.
Eric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu, both 28, killed 15-year-old Kristy Bamu in their east London flat after violently abusing him for several days, and repeatedly attacked the victim’s two sisters, whom they accused of sorcery, the Old Bailey heard on the opening day of the trial.
Reintegrating Ghana’s “witches”
October 14, 2011 – 1:47 am
Ghana’s government is looking at ways to support people accused of witchcraft - mainly women and children banished by their communities to “witches’ camps” in the north - and to reintegrate them in their home villages.
Currently around 1,000 women and 700 children are living in six camps in northern Ghana, where they have found refuge from threats and violence from people in their home communities after being labelled witches and blamed for causing misfortune to others.
Court allows ‘warlock’ to break curfew on full moon nights to perform Wicca ritual
March 11, 2011 – 4:04 am
A male witch who was put under an overnight curfew for carrying a knife he claimed was for religious purposes will be allowed to break the curfew on nights when there is a full moon, a court in England has ruled.
Malawi rights group pays fines to free elderly ‘witches’
January 12, 2011 – 2:48 am
A Malawian rights group said on Tuesday it had paid fines to secure the release of three elderly women sent to prison after being accused of witchcraft, AFP reports.
Russia’s witches and wizards face ad ban to protect cancer victims
September 22, 2010 – 9:30 pm
Russian MPs have backed a bill that bans anyone who calls themselves a witch or a wizard from advertising their services in the media in an effort to combat a controversial national obsession with the occult.
According to the Orthodox Church, Russia has 800,000 practitioners of the occult, many of whom advertise in newspaper small advertisements offering cures for alcoholism and spells to lift curses and return errant husbands for a fee.
One report claims almost one in five Russians have consulted occult ‘healers’ but MPs have warned they are risking their health and possibly their lives by trusting in such quackery.
Christine O’Donnell makes light of witchcraft comment
September 20, 2010 – 1:32 am
Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell is making light of comments she made more than a decade ago about having dabbled in witchcraft when she was in high school.
“How many of you didn’t hang out with questionable folks in high school?” she asked fellow Republicans at a GOP picnic in southern Delaware on Sunday.
“There’s been no witchcraft since. If there was, Karl Rove would be a supporter now,” O’Donnell jokingly assured the crowd.
Romania will not tax witches and fortune tellers
September 13, 2010 – 1:35 am
Romania’s Senate has rejected a proposed law that would have taxed witches and fortune tellers.
And the politician who pushed the plan said his colleagues caved because many of them feared being cursed.
Senator Alin Popoviciu of Romania’s ruling Democratic Liberal Party drafted the legislation that also would have forced the country’s thousands of witches and fortune tellers to produce receipts and would have held them responsible for wrong predictions.
