The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
1 May 2008
The incident took place just days after an 18-year-old man was found in a possession of the severed head of a three-year-old girl at Muhimbili National Hospital.
The suspect arrested yesterday in Tabata admitted during interrogation at Buguruni Police Station that she and three accomplices has been sent by their grandmother steal a newborn baby and blood from its mother for witchcraft purposes.
But she could not make it and instead decided to confess to the nurse on duty, Ms Margaret Mapunda, who was attending to an expectant woman.
She said although she was magically powered to undertake the duty, she encountered opposing supernatural powers which not only prevented her from fulfilling the mission but also leaving the place until the nurse found her.
The suspect said it was her first test, adding that she would have been "promoted" in her family's witchcraft hierarchy had she passed.
After the confession she had be rescued from the hands of an angry mob and was taken to a church located at Ubungo for prayers before the nurse took her back to the hospital in the evening.
Giving her side of the story, Ms Mapunda, who said she was a born again Christian, said that she was coming out of the labour ward to assist a delivering mother when he colleagues asked her to listen to the young woman for was found wandering aimlessly in the wards.
However, she could not understand what the woman was saying until when she prayed for her. It was then that the suspect said she was a witch who had been sent by her grandmother.
Ilala police district police boss Akili Mpwawa said the young lady was being kept at the police station for her own safety, and would later be taken to hospital for a check-up before legal measures were taken against her.
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