Hacked to death for witchcraft

2006-05-15 21:31

Nairobi - Three men accused of witchcraft, two of them brothers in their 70s, were hacked to death on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast at the weekend, said police on Monday.

The three were attacked by a gang who used machetes to kill Karisa Dhudhi, 78, Kalume Dhudhi, 74, and Katana Makanga, 36, whomo villagers claimed were practising sorcery in the Kilifi district.

Kilifi police commander Chares Okweya said they believed the elderly brothers had been killed because they were to appear as defence witnesses in a defamation case Makanga had filed against their accusers.

Okweya said: "We are still investigating, but we suspect six men attacked and killed them because the two were to give evidence in favour of Makanga in the defamation case."

Okweya said villagers had told police that Makanga headed a coven of witches in the area. The police filed charges against Makanga last month.

Makanga filed defamation suits against six people, whom he claimed had spearheaded the allegations and urged villagers to lynch him and the Dhudhi brothers, when he was released on bail.

Okweya said: "What we have now is complaints that the three have been practising witchcraft, but we have not confirmed this.

"The raiders, whom we have identified, have fled from this region and we are searching for them."

- AFP