70-year-old man in Taita Taveta killed over witchcraft allegation

A 70-year-old man was hacked to death in yet another case of  murder of the elderly on claims that they practice witchcraft in Nyangala, Taita Taveta. 

Mganga Mwaijambia is suspected to have been killed by a vicious gang of killers for hire that police sources claim is operating in Kasigau location, Voi Sub County.

Residents said the gang locally known as Chironda wa Mabulu had been behind the bizarre murders of over a dozen old men and women suspected of practicing witchcraft.

Chironda wa Mabulu is a Giriama word that is loosely translated as ‘A wound with Maggots’ which is a said to be a group that specializes in extermination of witches.

According to the statistics from Interior and Coordination officials and human right groups, about 20 people had so far been killed by the terror gang since 2014. The dreadful group had forced old men to flee from the area for fear of being eliminated.

Police and villagers of Kikongorinyi village said the deceased was attacked and killed on Monday evening at his house.

The villagers told The Standard that the deceased body was horribly mutilated with deep cuts on the head, abdomen and legs.

Voi OCPD Joseph Chesire confirmed and said they were investigating the murder, which has caused public outcry.

The police officer said the wife to the deceased had gone to the nearby shopping centre and when she returned home found her husband body lying in the house in a pool of blood.

“I have been told by local chiefs that relatives of the deceased had been accusing the deceased of bewitching his grandson who was not in the village at the time the incident occurred. We are still investigating the circumstance under which the old man met his death,” said Mr Chesire.

“The deceased body had deed cuts and we recovered a knife with blood stains. The body of the deceased was later removed and taken to the Voi County Referral Hospital mortuary and investigations launched,” said the police officer.

Chesire said no suspect had so far been arrested in connection with the incident

Residents claimed the gang had been targeting the old suspected to be practicing witchcraft and wizardry. They noted that the gang strike at night, carryout its heinous act and flee. There had been no arrest in such incidences, said the residents.

They disclosed that gang was very elusive and seemed to be well informed on the whereabouts of their targets. “The gang slashes the head and the abdomen so that even if the person happens to be rushed to hospital, the chances of survival are very minimal,” said one of the villagers.

“The most striking features about the multiple deaths is the fact that all the victims are past the age of sixty which has given credence to the theory that the aged in the community are at risk of being exterminated by this killer gang,” said the villagers.

In a past interview, Buguta location Chief Johane Mwazaule confirmed that scores of aged people in the area had been murdered by unknown assailants and stated that allegations of witchcraft were strongly suspected to be behind the murders.

He said that investigations into the deaths had revealed scant details about the killers as they left little evidence on who their true identities.

“We have had baffling deaths in the past years where old men are found murdered with deep cuts on their bodies. There killers strike suddenly and vanish leaving trail of destruction and grief on their wake,” said Mr Mwazaule.

A resident who identified himself as Mwakaba said that land disputes were at the bottom of most of these deaths and urged the police to probe into the land issues.

He alleged that some people, tired of protracted land rows with their rivals and neighbours, hired the gang to eliminate their rivals under the guise of tackling witchcraft.

“Some residents have taken advantage of the extreme phobia the community has for witchcraft and label their rivals as witches and wizard. After a person is cited as practicing witchcraft, it’s a matter of time before the gang arrives at your doorstep and kills,” explained Mwakaba.

 He also said that family members were also suspected of sponsoring the killer gangs to eliminate propertied aged men so as to pave away for the subdivision of property and land.