A woman and her three daughters attacked for witchcraft allegation

Elgeyo Marakwet, Kenya: A family is admitted at Tambach sub-county hospital in Elgeyo Marakwet nursing serious injuries sustained after irate villagers attacked them on suspicion of practicing witchcraft.

The family, a woman said to be in her 70s and her three daughters, sustained various injuries on their body while the daughters including her grandchildren were not spared in the attacks.

They suffered deep head injuries with the kids sustaining bruises on their body. However the elderly woman and her granddaughters who were not seriously injured were discharged after receiving treatment.

The incensed residents also set ablaze two houses and a food store belonging to the family at their Kapchumbi village along the Kerio River after the woman was alleged to be practicing witchcraft which angered the villagers into committing the act.

The family was rescued from the blazing house after the residents locked them inside in an attempt to exterminate them.

Reports from the area indicate the elderly woman who is a livestock herder has been threatening the villagers that she is a witch possessing a huge snake in her house.

"There is a man she had an altercation with sometime this year and the woman threatened him he will not live to eat the maize harvests this season," claimed Mark Kogei a villager.

He says the man has been sickly since then complaining of general body weakness and cannot walk.

"The man is still admitted in hospital," he said noting that whenever the woman is drunk she usually rants to bewitch anyone crossing her path.

But other residents dismissed the witchcraft claims saying the man was suffering from a terminal disease not as a result of witchcraft.

"It is baseless to punish innocent people for unfounded claims yet the man has been sick for a long time," retorted one resident.

He said the serpent said to be inside the woman’s house was not found in the house when it was torched.

Keiyo sub county OCPD Fred Ochieng said the victims are receiving treatment and in stable conditions.

"We have launched investigations into the matter and hope we shall soon to arrest the perpetrators," said the police boss.