Mombasa woman charged with calling another ‘witch’

By Kelvin Karani | 5yrs ago | 2 min read

A woman in Mombasa has been charged with calling a granny a witch.

Jumwa Beja Guni pleaded guilty to the charges of calling Mwamaka Kassim Gari - the Kona Mbaya residence committee chairperson - a witch.

Beja was charged before Chief Magistrate Edna Nyaloti with using abusive words towards Mwamaka in Likoni, Mombasa County on April 11, 2019.

Guilty plea

Jumwa had first pleaded guilty to the use of abusive words by telling Mwamaka, “Wewe ni mchawi kachukua donga zako ukuje uniroge, mjinga, mpumbavu!” and causing a breach of peace in Kona Mbaya area.

The Magistrate would however overrule the guilty plea after saying she did not agree with the prosecution’s reasoning that the accused acted intentionally in the alleged crime.

The magistrate then freed the accused on a 10,000 cash bail.

Jumwa told the court that the complainant had warned workers repairing her kibanda to ditch the work - yet it was her only source of income.

She told the court thus: “She has been jealous. We have never been involved in any quarrel before - and I wondered why she had stopped my people from helping me repair my joint.”

Police said the accused called the complainant to her shop and demanded to know why she had asked her workers to abandon the works.

Road reserve

The complainant who is the area resident’s chairperson is said to have explained to Beja that the area was a road reserve - and she would not advocate for erection of structures on public land.

It was then that the accused is said to have used abusive words towards the Kona Mbaya residence committee chairperson.

The court - after recording that she had denied the charges - released her on a cash bail of Sh 10,000.

The case will be mentioned on April 25, 2019.