15 January 2008
Maputo — The director of the prison and the head of the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) in the central Mozambican district of Caia have been arrested after accepting a bribe to release two people accused of a gruesome human sacrifice.
According to a report in the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique", the chain of events began in the small town of Sena in November when a citizen (whose name has not yet been revealed) approached a witch-doctor, named as Fatima, and asked her if she could arrange for him "to triumph in my life".
The sorceress said she could indeed cast a spell to ensure that he would prosper. But to so she needed her client to bring her human blood. Obeying this instruction the man went to meet his young nephew - and slit the boy's throat. He poured the boy's blood into a basin which he took to the sorceress.
When the boy's mother found her son had disappeared, she asked for his whereabouts and found that he had gone to his uncle's (her brother's) house. The murderer had not bothered to clean up, and the mother found spots of blood on the floor.
She contacted the police who arrested her brother and Fatima, and took them to the district prison in Caia town. But she was soon released, on payment of a bribe of 14,000 meticais (about 580 US dollars).
But not everyone can be bribed. The presiding judge of the Caia district court, Pedro Semente, took an interest in this macabre case. He visited the prison, found the sorceress was missing, and asked where she was.
The prison management told him she was undergoing medical treatment in the local health centre. The judge went there immediately and found this story was a complete fabrication. He alerted the Caia district police commander, Joao Loiane, who ordered that Fatima be found and re-arrested.
She was tracked down in the western province of Tete. When she was re-arrested, she was indignant - she told the arresting officers she should not be detained since she had paid 14,000 meticais for her freedom.
When he heard of this, Loiane ordered the arrest of the prison director, Fernando Chaleca, the head of the Caia PIC brigade, Jose Barato, and two policemen, named as Jose Maria and Omar, on charges of corruption.
"Diario de Mocambique" also reports that Fatima's husband tried, on two occasions, to bribe the judge. At first he offered him 6,000 meticias, and later increased the bribe to five head of cattle. Semente refused both bribes.
Despite their arrests, the prison director and the three policemen have been seen strolling freely in the streets of Caia. The Sofala provincial police command therefore intends to transfer them to police cells in Beira.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
