Organs stolen from fresh grave

2007-08-29 17:04

Dar Es Salaam - A Tanzanian farmer is facing trial for removing the heart and liver from a freshly buried infant in a suspected witchcraft case, police said on Wednesday.

Ardon John, 21, from Lula village in south-western Tanzania, is accused of having dug out the grave on Sunday of an infant who had died the previous day, police inspector Magai Chassa said.

"John was arrested on the same day with the organs after police were informed of the incident," he said, adding that the suspected witchdoctor was remanded by the court on Tuesday.

Police said it was not immediately clear what the suspect intended to use the stolen organs for.

'Grave-diggers steal gold jewels'

The incident took place in the Rukwa region, the same area where a local fortune-teller jumped to his death last week when he threw himself in a river promising to resurface three days later with revelations from the spirits.

"There are people who believe in witchcraft in this region. But I don't know exactly how infants' organs can be used," said local police commander Daudi Siasi, who added there was no recorded precedent for such a case.

Over the past four years, some people were found skinned, and women stripped of their genital organs, in the neighbouring Mbeya region.

In the capital Dar Es Salaam, tomb desecrations are relatively frequent and grave-diggers steal the gold jewels and ornaments with which the dead are buried in some traditional rituals.

The defendant's trial is due to formally open on September 10.

- AFP