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Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
 Posted: 07-06-2005 04:07 Post subject: |
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Well there are a lot more reports emerging which may answer some of your questions.
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Its also interetsing to see they are drawing together rather diverse threads - like the Adam torso, the "300 missing boys in London" and Victoria Climbie. It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out.
| Quote: | Black magic fear grips Britain
05/06/2005 20:12 - (SA)
London - Police fear that dozens of children may be victims of black magic in Britain and a case last week of three adults found guilty of torturing a young girl whom they believed to be a "witch" is just the tip of the iceberg.
The ordeal suffered by the eight-year-old from Angola at the hands of her aunt and another woman and man is now over. Her abusers are due to be sentenced on July 8, and criminal court judge Christopher Moss warned on Friday that their prison term would be "lengthy".
But the case - in which the child was cut with a knife, beaten with a belt and shoe and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes to beat the devil out of her - has shone the spotlight on the issue of sorcery, a practice that is little documented by the police and the British justice system.
"There is a lack of understanding around this belief and the resultant abuse," said a recent police report by Scotland Yard, calling for cases of "ritualistic abuse" to be better recorded and treated in a specific manner.
The target in this document on "ndoki", the term used in western Africa to describe all forms of sorcery, is hundreds of churches, some of them tiny, which practice exorcism in London and around the rest of Britain.
The churches serve a variety of animist sects and more general forms of fundamental Christian beliefs.
"I think one of the things that should be looked at is whether these churches should be registered," said Richard Hoskins, an expert of African religion at King's College in London.
"Some of these churches go hand in glove with witchcraft," he said, fearing that "potentially there are hundreds of children at risk in London alone."
Scotland Yard, which has assigned a special team to explore the phenomenon of black magic - so called "Project Violet" - has only identified some 31 cases of ritual crimes since 2000, and of them only five have gone to court.
But the investigators fear that the problem is much larger. The police have said that some 300 African boys have disappeared from schools in London in recent years. While a majority of the children simply returned to their home countries, others are still missing.
In the latest abuse case, the eight-year-old victim, known in court as B, managed to survive repeated torture.
Another child however, named by the police as Adam, was not so fortunate.
His headless and limbless body was found in the River Thames in September 2001 in what is suspected as being a ritualistic killing.
Evidence found in the lower intestine of Adam - aged between four and six from Nigeria - was identified as being the highly poisonous calabar bean which police think may have been used to subdue him before his death.
Other contents in his stomach, including crushed bone, and clay pellets impregnated with gold and quartz, were also discovered.
Similarly Victoria Climbie, an eight-year-old from the Ivory Coast, was beaten to death in February 2000 after her aunt accused her of being a witch.
The belief that a child is possessed by the devil is regrettably "widespread", said Abdul Mohammed, a London-based member of an association for children in Africa.
Debbie Ariyo, another campaigner against child torture, claims to know of at least two dozen cases similar to that of child B.
Hundreds of churches "believe they need to inflict physical pain to make the body uncomfortable for the devil or spirit inside," she said.
Britain's social services, however, are also at fault.
In the case of Victoria Climbie, they had numerous opportunities to uncover the girl's suffering. Similarly with child B, a first medical check failed to spot 43 wounds.
An official version of events from the doctor in charge put the oversight down to the fact that the examination took place late in the afternoon, the light was bad and the doctor did not see the injuries. |
www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1716531,00.html
| Quote: | Churches blamed for exorcism growth
An Old Bailey case has highlighted growing worries about the links between child abuse and religion, reports Tony Thompson
Sunday June 5, 2005
The Observer
The advertisement leaves little doubt about the strength of the Professor's powers. 'Your partner left you? She/he will be back and follow you like a dog obeys his master. Fast results.' Another aims to comfort those who fear they have been cursed, offering to 'break all types of black magic or witchcraft' while a third promises assistance with 'evil bothering'.
Although advertisements for psychics and tarot readers now appear in almost every newspaper, the spiritualists or 'marabouts' who aim their services at members of Britain's African community stand out because of the sheer bravado of their claims - demonic forces, infertility, business difficulties, immigration problems, weight loss and general bad luck can all be dealt with and results are guaranteed, apparently.
None of those contacted by The Observer yesterday was willing to speak on the record about their work but the sheer number of practitioners - they fill an entire page in the weekly newspaper, the Voice , indicates there is a substantial market for their services.
On Friday, the issue of spiritual belief within the African community was highlighted once more when Sita Kisanga and her brother Sebastian Pinto were found guilty at the Old Bailey of aiding and abetting the physical abuse of an eight-year-old girl. The girl's aunt, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted of child cruelty. The court heard that the child, who was brought to Britain from Angola by her aunt after her parents died, had been beaten, cut and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes to 'beat the devil out of her'.
Kisanga, 35, accused alongside the child's 38-year-old aunt, and Pinto, 33, attended a Combat Spirituel church in Dalston, east London. The church belongs to a fundamentalist wing of Christianity and is believed to be one of at least 300 in the UK, mostly in London and mostly supported by people who originated from west Africa.
Many such churches sanction aggressive forms of exorcism involving physical contact with the possessed subject, though the Pastor at Combat Spirituel told police he did not condone the actions of Kisanga and the others.
Dr Richard Hoskins, an expert on African religions who gave evidence at the trial, told The Observer that these so-called 'breakaway churches' have much in common with other evangelical institutions. 'The services are usually exuberant and energetic. The congregation do not meet in a traditional church building. Instead they come together in a garage or someone's home.
'The key difference takes place when it comes to the practice of exorcism and it is here that potential abuse can occur. There will be shouting and the person being exorcised will often have convulsions. It is a lengthy process that can go on for hours. Another problem is that there seem to be two elements driving those at the head of these churches. One is money, the other is power and, unfortunately, these are opposing forces.'
Kisanga denied she had taken part in the beatings of the girl and said that she had tried to stop the abuse by the child's aunt. But she admitted that like the aunt she had believed that the girl was 'kendoki' - a witch.
'In our community, kendoki is killing people,' she said in an interview broadcast by Radio 5 Live yesterday. 'It is doing bad things. In our community in the UK everyone believes in it. In our country they believe in it too. Kendoki is something that you have to be scared of because, in our culture kendoki can kill you and destroy your life completely. Kendoki can make you barren, sometimes kendoki can ruin your chances of staying in this country.'
The case has striking similarities with that of Victoria Climbié, also eight, who was beaten, burnt with cigarettes and forced to sleep in a bin liner inside an empty bath. She died in hospital in February 2000, suffering from hypothermia and malnutrition.
Both girls were brought to Britain from Africa by aunts claiming them as their own daughters and they were both mistreated, starved and traumatised after their guardians said they were possessed by the devil. In Victoria's case, she was taken to various spiritual churches where the congregations were asked to pray for her after she began throwing her faeces around in protest at her treatment.
Her plight was overlooked by police, social workers and medical staff and she died covered in bruises. Her great-aunt and her boyfriend were convicted of her murder and jailed for life at the Old Bailey. Two social workers dealing with her case were sacked. Social workers have also been criticised in the current case as the girl was briefly taken into care but later returned to her family.
The latest girl's ordeal also has echoes of the mystery of the dismembered body of a boy named 'Adam' by police who was found in the River Thames in September 2001 and is thought to have been the victim of a ritual killing. The Metropolitan Police says there is nothing to link the cases but officers are worried that they have not been able to trace 300 African boys who disappeared from London schools.
In response to the Kisanga case the Met has set up a project to combat some of the wilder claims of 'witchcraft' in African communities in the UK. Dubbed Project Violet, the scheme aims to prevent and detect ritualistic, faith-related child abuse, by engaging with African communities, initially in the east London boroughs of Newham and Hackney.
Detective Superintendent Chris Bourlet, deputy head of the Met's Child Abuse Investigation Command, said: 'Project Violet is going to look at ways of supporting communities and seeking ways of preventing this kind of abuse in the future. We have no idea of the scale of the problem because up to now, we have not always recorded the purpose of the abuse. How prevalent it is, we have still to find out.'
During the trial the court heard that the girl's aunt had an IQ that put her in the bottom one per cent of the population and was 'gullible and easily led'.
According to Debbie Ariyo, director of Africans Unite Against Child Abuse, part of the blame lies with the churches who endorse such extreme beliefs. 'If a child is accused of being a witch and that accusation is endorsed by the church, it gives people leeway to perpetrate abuse on that child. Either directly or indirectly, if a church confirms someone's status as a witch, they are condoning abuse.'
Leading theologian Dr Robert Beckford, who presented the controversial Channel 4 documentary God is Black , told The Observer that he is greatly disturbed by the way African beliefs are being portrayed as a result of the case. 'First of all we have to draw a clear line between biblical exorcism, which does not involve any kind of physical contact, and child abuse, which unfortunately does,' he said. 'From a purely theological point of view, what they did was wrong. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that if someone is possessed with a demon, you have to beat it out of them. This was clearly a case of child abuse and no one in their right mind would ever condone that.
'Yet at the same time, some of the coverage reminds me of the racist 19th-century anthropological literature. West Africans are not the only people who believe in demonic possession or the existence of evil spirits. The Anglican church believes in those things too and so does the Evangelical Alliance. The attitude seems to be that if the people supporting the beliefs have PhDs then they are sensible but if they are working class people from Africa then they must be mad.'
The girl at the centre of the case is now 10 years old and living with foster parents and is outwardly thriving, but her mental scars are still there. According to detectives, she is still traumatised by her experience and the mere mention of witchcraft sends her into floods of tears. |
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1499567,00.html
| Quote: | The dark side of religious belief
Published: 4 Jun 2005
By: Simon Israel
Three people have been found guilty of child creulty to a gilr they calimed was a witch. But witchcraft is common, as Simon Israel reports.
For the police the Old Bailey trial is a success but for the child protection agencies child abuse motivated by witchcraft is a worrying sign.
Detective Superintendent Chris Bourlet, Head of Child Protection, Metropolitan Police, said: "This case has raised a number of issues regarding belief. I'm very clear that it is not the role of the police to judge belief but to investigate crimes against children."
Body maps show the scale of the crimes inflicted on the privately fostered girl from the Congo region, who was eight at the time. She is lucky to be alive.
She is the victim of an overpowering mix of African tradition and Christian fundamentalism in an area the authorities have little or no contact with. There is to be inquiry into the role of Hackney social services.
She was found by chance dishevelled on the steps of a council block in East London - near her home. She had been kicked, cut with knife, beaten with a belt, fed on just tea and bread and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes because of a belief she was possessed by an African spirit Kindoki.
The girl's tormentors were ashamed and afraid to show their faces. One is a distance aunt who posed as her mother when they claimed asylum in Britain.
Another who has already settled here is a distance relative from the Congolese capital Kinshasa and third is that woman's brother. All were today found guilty of child cruelty.
What convinced the jury was the testimony of the victim. Her videoed police interviews revealed awful tales of torture because she was deemed to be infected with witchcraft.
She said: "Well my auntie said that my mum and me have got witchcraft. I said no we haven't but auntie said we are.
"It's a mark from a knife, she just, my mum was there, just the end of the knife just the tip of the knife. I sit in the corner because they were always standing up and after that I was bleeding from this one and I just sit down like that because I didn't have no vest. One kicked me one slapped me one pushed me."
She described to police how in this room, she was forced into the laundry bag, which lay in the corner. She said the two women then zipped it up and were preparing to throw her from their balcony into the local canal.
But this is not an isolated case. In the background of the Victoria Climbie tragedy lurked possession, bad spirits and exorcism. And ritualistic sacrifice became the explanation in the 'Adam' torso case.
These two women have dealt at least a dozen cases involving witchcraft including this latest one over the past two years. One is a social worker, the other runs a charity for Congolese women refugees.
Amma Anane-Agyei, specialist social worker told Channel 4 News: "Kidoki is rooted in traditional African religion which is a belief in possession and in this case we are talking about spirits. This problem has been internalised by the black African evangelical churches."
Marianne Fimbo, Congolese refugees Women's Association said: "The diagnosis comes from the churches from the pastors because it is only the pastor who can tell you are possessed.
The Metropolitan Police is preparing to publish a report into these very issues. Hackney, where the girl was found, is one of two London boroughs it is focused on.
Channel Four News understands the report will make scary reading. It has a section entitled children possessed where it says: "the pastors consulted, acknowledged that children labelled as possessed are in danger of being beaten by their families. However they would not accept that they were playing a major role in inciting such violence."
Click next for the second part of Simon Israel's report plus excerpts from Jon Snow's discussion expert Dr Richard Hoskins.
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The dark side of religious belief
Published: 4 Jun 2005
By: Simon Israel
This is the second part of Simon Israel's report plus excerpts from Jon Snow's discussion with Richard Hoskins, an expert on African religions.
We found a deliverance video on sale in North London. It was produced by the Faith and Victory Church, run by a Congolese pastor Morya. In the film he claims to be inside a London hospital.
The woman interviewed at her bedside believes can she fly into peoples houses and infect them with witchcraft. The video features another woman, the pastor claims is a patient at the same hospital. We showed the film to Doctor Richard Hoskyns an expert used by the prosecution in the Old Bailey case and speaks the Congolese language of lingala. Her story is even more incredible.
At the end, Pastor Morya and his assistants perform a deliverance service in the hospital room to rid this woman of her demons
We had no evidence this church was in any way involved with or encouraged child abuse.
These DVDs are easily available in boroughs like Hackney. It's a lucrative business in fear and power. The communities are well aware such witchcraft as they describe is being practised in some churches.
The question many face is just what can they do when's there little trust and no established links with the authorities.
Mor Dioum, from the Victoria Climbie Foundation, told C4 News: "The health protection agencies need to exchange with these communities, to open dialogue with them to try to understand where they are coming from and to try to understand what witchcraft is all about."
The Victoria Climbie Inquiry which prompted a sea change in child protection steered well away from religion in spite of several submissions warning of dangerous ritual practices going on.
The Crown Prosecution Service has dealt with five cases in the last year.
Witchcraft is not a crime but the three convicted today are facing prison terms for the horrors they inflicted on a child because of it.
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Jon Snow: You argue that this is quite young in Africa.
Richard Hoskins: The belief in witchcraft is not new, it's been held for many centuries but the way of dealing with it is wholly new it is really taken off in the new churches that have given it a new and dangerous twist.
Snow: Where does it spring from?
Hoskins: What's happening is the new fundamentalist churches springing up in sub-Saharan Africa are pushing this line because of evangelists wanting power and also it is preying on vulnerable people and we should not dismiss the aspect of poverty people are going through desperate straits.
So it is a very heady concoction of African traditional belief and this powerful outside agency. I do wonder about the influence of evangelical churches over here.
Snow: One can understand perhaps the confusion among vulnerable people who are impoverished but when you translate it to London, what are we dealing with here. Here it is almost commercial exploitation.
Hoskins: There are aspects of power and money involved in this. What is the problem here is the great sea of unknowing. Every time I deal with a case, everyone in the community says it is just the tip of the iceberg.
With this great cloud of unknowing, for example with missing children, you can stay with foster parents without that being registered and it needs to be properly investigated.
These things need to be investigated. One of the homes I went to in the DR Congo, they were beaming in the Gilbert Dei ministry's teaching by satellite.
We need a much wider umbrella to look at this. We've got away from this 60s mentality we can't look at this because it's touching people's beliefs but where children are involved and matters of abuse, it doesn't matter what colour they are and I think the majority of Africans I know would say the same thing, this is about the welfare of children and that's paramount. |
www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=228 |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 08-06-2005 04:34 Post subject: |
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The Guadalupe Witch story
| Quote: | Mexican Policeman Attacked
By A Flying Humanoid Entity
Dear Jeff,
This story certainly has been causing a great stir here in the city of Monterrey, N.L. Mexico and I would like you to know the facts involving a police officer , a flying humanoid entity and a mobilization of police forces in a bizarre, unprecedent incident. - Santiago.
It was very early in the morning 3:15 AM on Friday January 16, 2004 when police officer Leonardo Samaniego from Guadalupe, N.L. Mexico was doing his daily vigilance routine in his patrol car around Colonia Valles de la Silla not knowing the shocking experience that he was about to live, a true drama that he will never forget.
The night was cold and dark and the streets were empty when Samaniego made a turn onto Alamo street and immediately noticed something very unusual.
A huge, black object fell from a tree beside the street but it stopped just before touching the ground...and then slowly landed and turned itself to face the patrol car. At that moment, officer Samaniego knew that something was wrong. So he turned on the high beams of his car to try to see what was this black object that fell from the tree was.
That's when Samaniego's nightmare began.
"It was a woman...all dressed in black that fell from the tree but she didn't touch the ground, just remained floating several feet from the ground, declared officer Leonardo Samaniego. I saw her very well and then she landed softly on the ground and stood there looking at me. She was trying to cover her face from the lights of the car, I think they were bothering her. I could see two big black eyes on her, completely black without eyelids, and her skin was dark brown. She was all dressed in black with cloak and cape like a witch and she seemed very upset by the lights."
In a matter of seconds, the scene turned into a terrific sequence of events almost like a horror movie...but all too real. The being jumped very fast over to - and onto - Samaniego's patrol car trying to get at him while the shocked police officer tried to runaway in reverse while shouting desperately for back-up assistance on his radio.
Stunned Officer's Eyewitness Description
Here is officer Samaniego's testimonial of these terrifying seconds that for him must have seemed like a never-ending nightmare.
"As soon as I realized it was a kind of woman being, or a witch, very strange standing there trying to cover her face, she threw herself against my car very fast, falling on the car and hitting the windshield. She was flying very fast and it took only a second to hit the windshield glass. I was so shocked by this action that I put the car in reverse and pushed the accelerator trying to get away while requesting backup assistance by radio."
According to officer Samaniego's statement, the female being was trying to grab him with her hands right through the car's windshield. She was separated from the officer by only the few centimeters of the car's windshield. It was at this moment that officer Samaniego got his best visual look at the being he described as a "witch".
"It was a woman with big black eyes, everything was black, no eyelids. Her skin was dark brown and her expression was horrible. She was furiously trying to get me with her claws while I was running away in reverse calling desperately for backup assistance to any units around. When I finally hit the end of the street, I was so shocked that I covered my eyes and then I fainted."
Officer Leonardo Samaniego lost consciousness after he covered his eyes trying not to see the frightening being still glued to the windshield trying to get to him. The severe amount of high stress experienced by him caused him to pass out.
Some minutes later, two police units arrived as well as an ambulance that was nearby. When they got to the patrol car they found officer Samaniego unconscious. Fortunately, he was not injured, perhaps due to the fact that he never abandoned the car during the incident. That decision may have prevented a tragedy.
After several minutes, he regained consciousness and was attended by the paramedics on the ambulance. A tv camera crew that arrived with a police unit recorded officer Samaniego's first interview just minutes after he felt calmed enough - during the interrogation by his police colleagues. All this occurred at the same place of the bizarre incident. Officer Samaniego stood firmly on his account, insisting that the being was a witch that could fly and attacked him and his patrol car.
Note - One look at the young officer's stunned and shocked facial expression speaks volumes. -ed
An extensive search was done around the area by the police units trying to find any tracks or evidence of the mysterious female being but nothing was found. The ambulance took officer Samaniego to the Hospital Universitario for a medical evaluation and he remained there all day.
Drug Tests And Psychological Tests All Negative
The Secretary of Public Security of Guadalupe, Mr. Hamlet Castilla Garcia, informed that several drug tests as well as other examinations were conducted on officer Leonardo Samaniego to check for any toxic substances in his body like alcohol or any kind of drug. All tests were negative.
Also, Dr. Edelmiro Perez Rodriguez who is coordinator of medical services in Hospital Universitario informed that after several psychiatric and psychological examinations they found officer Leonardo Samaniego mentally and physically healthy.
Guadalupe mayor, Mr. Juan Francisco Rivera, declared the next day that Samaniego is a fine police officer in the department and there is no reason whatever to think that he would have invented such a story. But he added that maybe it was an excess of work or too much stress that made him believe what he saw, not necessarily what really happened. He said that life sometimes puts people in weird situations that we can't explain.
Needless to say that the story broke in the television headlines the next day and a the people of the community awoke to a great controversy. Local tv channels 2 and 34 took the story very seriously and decided to cover all the incidents and follow the case in a huge display of information through all of their newscasts for the next days. The people's response was great and literally hundreds of reports and testimonials of similar things sighted arrived at the tv station. Several witnesses were interviewed saying that they saw the mysterious black being flying over their homes.
Other Officers Saw The Same Being 3 Days Earlier
A police officer from Santa Catarina, N.L., Mr. Jorge Contreras, declared that he and two more policemen from the Regia Police saw EXACTLY the same flying being that officer Samaniego saw, but three days before. They saw it flying and decided not to say anything - until they heard about this case.
Norma Alicia Herrera who lives in Colonia La Playa declared in a tv interview that she and her brother saw also the being flying at daytime and that it looked weird. She said that her brother was so stunned by the sighting that he was sick for almost a week afterwards.
A neighbor in that sector also videotaped, several days before, a strange flying humanoid being and gave the video to the tv station. The footage was released the same day during the newscast of channel 34 and later on channel 2 causing even more commotion among the people.
The story was also released by major newspapers like El Norte and Milenio. The same Friday, January 16, special surveillance units were stationed where the incident took place and streets surrounding as an operative to protect the neighbors in case an eventual new attack. At the same time, an investigation was initiated by the Public Security Corporation in Guadalupe. Police officer Leonardo Samaniego remained in seclusion receiving his treatment for the next two days when he was interviewed again on tv, maintaining his story in every detail.
Further Research
According to the being's description and characteristics as given by Samaniego - especially those of the eyes - I looked in my archives for any similar cases trying to sustain the theory of the humanoid encounter. I found the classic case from Flatwoods, West Virginia in 1952. The drawings are very similar to what officer Samaniego declared attacked him. Of course, the Mothman story came to mind, also from West Virginia but in 1966 - a still unsolved case of a strange humanoid. These are famous cases that remain an enigma.
Reviewing the footage taken by a witness of the strange flying entity, I found the shape of this being or object very unusual in terms of any ufological analogy but not so in my dossier of evidences of cases in which I have found similar reports of humanoid shaped entities or beings. Here in Mexico, we have been witness to several cases of extremely rare humanoid-shaped flying things, objects, entities, beings or whatever the definition may be. We simply don't have any idea what these strange figures are that resemble a human flying in the sky without parachute or any propulsion device, defying all known laws of physics.
These kinds of things have been witnessed and taped more than a few times here in Mexico and we still don't have any clue of what this next level phenomena may represent. The case of officer Samaniego is now another challenge to confront and most probably will remain inconclusive and unexplained.
But we have witnesses, evidence and testimonials that something very real and weird is happening in the sky, and now among us, maybe a frightening menace or just an encounter with the unknown. In any case, Friday January 16, 2004 will remain seared in officer Leonardo Samaniego's memory as the night that he confronted the horror of encountering the unknown.
Santiago Yturria
Monterrey, N.L. Mexico s
yturria@intercable.net
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there are some pics here:
www.rense.com/general48/entity.htm |
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| TheQuixote Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Total posts: 4085 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 10-07-2005 00:17 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Family jailed for torture of a girl they called Devil
THREE people who tortured an eight-year-old girl they accused of being a witch have been jailed at the Old Bailey.
The girl’s two aunts wept as they were jailed for ten years each. Her uncle was jailed for four years for aiding and abetting child cruelty against the girl.
Judge Christopher Moss told them that they had mounted a campaign of cruelty that amounted to torture. He added: “It is the very pinnacle of cruelty to a child that demands the maximum sentence.”
The 40-year-old woman who had brought the girl to England from Africa in 2002, and who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been found guilty of four charges of cruelty after an earlier trial.
Her cousin, Sita Kisanga, 35, of Hackney, East London, was found guilty of three charges of aiding and abetting child cruelty. The women were cleared of conspiracy to murder the girl.
Kisanga’s brother, Sebastian Pinto, 33, of Stoke Newington, North London, was found guilty of one charge of aiding and abetting. The girl said that she was beaten, cut with a knife and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes to “beat the Devil out of her”.
The woman had placed her in a laundry bag and told her she would be thrown into a river to drown. The orphan was brought to Britain from Angola by her aunt who told authorities that she was the girl’s mother.
But after going to live with Kisanga, she was accused of witchcraft and beaten with a belt by the woman she called “Mum”.
The orphan was beaten until she was made to admit that she had been practising witchcraft, and is still traumatised by the experience.
After she was terrorised in the council flat in Hackney, area wardens found her shivering in bare feet on the steps, in November 2003. She told them she was hungry and later told police that she had been surviving on tea and bread.
During the trial, the girl, who is now 10 and in foster care, gave evidence via video link.
She said: “In my mind, I will never forget what happened.”
The girl said that Kisanga cornered her in the kitchen and told her “today you die”. She said that her “Mum” pulled a little knife out “and she did little marks. I was bleeding.”
The girl said that the adults gathered in a circle around her. “One kicked me, one slapped me and one pushed me,” she said. “I asked myself, ‘What have I done?’.”
She said later that “they were putting me in the bag to throw me away”.
She said: “My Mum said why don’t they throw me away? Water will be good.” It was then that Pinto warned them that children in Britain had rights and they changed their minds, she said.
Patricia May, for the prosecution, said that the witchcraft allegation would not be taken seriously by most people in Britain.
But the two women had taken it very seriously indeed.
All three were failed asylum-seekers who were unemployed.
Jill Evans, for the first defendant, said that she had been brought up on superstition and had been influenced by a church that she had been introduced to by Kisanga.
Anthony Berry, QC, for Kisanga, said that she was a lonely and bewildered woman who spent her life at a North London church where she spent time discussing witchcraft with others.
Outside court she told a radio reporter: “In our community, ndoki (witchcraft) happens because it is killing people.
“In our community in the UK everyone believes in it.
“Ndoki is something that you have to be scared of because in our culture it can kill you and destroy your life completely.”
After the case, the police established Project Violet to look at similar crimes involving religious beliefs. Liberty, the civil rights group, called for an inquiry, saying: “Religious freedom is not without limits.”
David Pearson, the executive director of the Churches’ Child Protection advisory group said: “Abuse is abuse and must never be overlooked or excused on cultural or religious grounds.
“We hope that the sentences imposed today will deter anybody else tempted to ‘beat the Devil’ out of a child.”
Bishop Dr Joe Aldred, chairman of the Council of Black-led Churches in Birmingham, said: “The African faith community has been horrified by this case of child abuse.
“Any religious practice or belief that harms children cannot be justified or excused.” |
Times.online |
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| TheQuixote Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Total posts: 4085 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 31-07-2005 12:42 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Congo's child victims of superstition
By Angus Crawford
BBC, DR Congo
Poverty, civil war and a widely held belief in witchcraft means children in the Democratic Republic of Congo can be extremely vulnerable. Angus Crawford hears the stories of some of the young victims in the capital, Kinshasa.
When Maria starts to cry, she does not make a sound. She sits rigid and silent, staring straight ahead.
She allows just a trickle of tears from each eye. She does not even blink.
She has good reason to be sad.
Three years ago, she lived in London and went to primary school. She still has photographs of the friends she made there.
But her stepmother made a discovery - she decided Maria was possessed, that she had what the Congolese call "kindoki" - witchcraft.
Abandoned
Her father bought a single ticket and within days Maria was getting off a plane in Kinshasa.
Poverty, ignorance and a twisting of traditional beliefs mean Maria is now a pariah
She spoke little French and almost none of the local language, Lingalla. She was told it was just a holiday.
When I track her down, three years later, she is living in a two-room house in one of the poorest areas of the city. She shares it with 29 members of her extended family.
She has braided hair and a shy smile, and is fashion-conscious like only girls desperate to be teenagers can be.
She is dressed in shocking lime green from head to toe.
The tears only start when I ask her what she remembers of the night she arrived back in the city.
It is the terror of that chaotic airport, with its bribe-taking officials, its guards and their guns, the choking heat, the pungent smells.
A seven-year-old girl abandoned and lost. You can read it all on her face.
Street children
Maria, at least, has a roof over her head.
Christian, like 20,000 other street children here, sleeps anywhere he can.
He is tiny. He looks about five or six but tells me he is nine.
He is filthy and his clothes are in tatters.
When he speaks I can barely hear him. Because I am an adult - and so command respect - he calls me "Papa".
I ask him why his family threw him out. Again that word "kindoki" - witchcraft.
Objects of fear
His grandmother says he tried to eat another relative. He tells me that all he hopes for in life now is for the bad spirits to leave him.
I asked pastors how they knew a child was a witch - the answer was almost always that God had shown them
It seems extraordinary but aid agencies believe the vast majority of street children are there for the same reason, as are countless others in orphanages.
It is almost as though this country is in the grip of a collective paranoia, where children have become objects of fear.
It is not that the Congolese do not love their children. Of course they do, they are still the heart of community life.
But the belief in a second, invisible world where witchcraft thrives is widely held.
Combine that with a country in economic freefall, where the extended family is collapsing under the weight of Aids and poverty.
Remember, too, that the foot soldiers of the armies which deposed former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, were children.
Social cleansing
The image of pre-pubescent boys with machine-guns striding into Kinshasa is etched onto people's memories. They call them the "Kadogos", which very roughly translates as, the "little ones".
Add to that an explosion of evangelical Christian churches which advocate muscular - sometimes violent - exorcism, and you have a gigantic exercise in social cleansing.
And often it is the children who become the scapegoats for all society's ills.
For salvation from these so called "witch children", many families turn to people like Mama Gena.
She is obviously powerful.
It is not just her three mobile phones or even her two designer handbags. Her diamond encrusted watch is impressive too, almost as impressive as the picture of her in police uniform hanging above her desk.
Exorcisms for a fee
But her real power comes from the fact that she is a self-appointed prophetess, who will both identify your child as a witch and then perform an exorcism - for a fee, of course.
And business appears to be good.
Congolese friends tell me her ceremonies are mild. She only starves her charges for five days.
Other pastors burn, hit and sexually abuse the children. Some are killed.
Again and again, I asked pastors how they could tell that a child was a witch. The answer was almost always that God showed them.
The head of one non-governmental organisation put it more bluntly. If you are too fat or too thin, too quiet or too noisy, if you wet the bed or you are disabled as a child you are at risk.
Even more so if you are not a blood relation of the person pointing the finger. It is no surprise that stepmothers frequently appear as the chief accusers.
If they are not yours and you cannot feed them, they are possessed.
So Maria really has good reason to weep.
Poverty, ignorance and a twisting of traditional beliefs mean she is now a pariah.
She knows her old life in London with her school friends is over. Her new life in Kinshasa is one of poverty, fear and the threat of disease.
And so she cries because, she says, she wants to go home.
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 30 July, 2005 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times. |
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| staticgirl Following my fish Joined: 12 Oct 2003 Total posts: 478 Location: Hertfordshire Age: 41 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 22-05-2006 15:38 Post subject: |
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Follow Up Story:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5002054.stm
| Quote: | Witchcraft and the 'missing' report
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News community affairs
Abuse: A police diagram of injuries inflicted to "Child B"
Last year, stories emerged that African preachers were sacrificing children in secret church ceremonies in the UK. Today, we still don't know the full truth behind those claims - and African churches say the government isn't doing more to help them root out child abusers posing as Christian leaders.
No one who last June heard the story of "Child B" would have failed to have been moved.
The eight-year-old child, brought to the UK from Angola, was beaten, cut and had chilli rubbed in her eyes after her aunt and two others believed she was a witch.
The girl's aunt, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two others, Sita Kisanga and Sebastian Pinto, were jailed - but the case sparked widespread fears over whether a new form of child abuse centred on African "healing" customs had arrived in Britain.
Child B was not the first such child abuse case to emerge from African communities. The appalling death of Victoria Climbie in February 2000 included an element of belief in possession and witchcraft. Separately, police are still investigating the identity of "Adam", the torso of a Nigerian boy found in 2001.
And amid these terrible stories, and fears of others, there remains enormous confusion over the extent of the problem.
A Metropolitan Police report last year suggested that abuse linked to churches was rife. That report largely detailed hearsay, claims and community fears and was intended to help police officers target their efforts. But some campaigners accused the authors of a "racist witch-hunt" against African communities.
We feel hurt by this - it's as if we have been demonised and put outside the mainstream Christian fellowship, as if we are not being recognised as proper Christians
Pastor Jean Bosco
Congolese Christians 'demonised'
And so, a year on, nobody is nearer the truth. Except perhaps for the Department for Education and Skills (DFES).
At a conference on Monday, leaders of Congolese churches in Britain are calling on ministers to urgently publish research they commissioned into the allegations of witchcraft and possession.
The research is understood to have been completed and is sitting on a desk somewhere in the department.
A spokesman for the DFES, which has responsibility for child protection policy, says it is being considered by ministers, but will give no publication date, despite widespread expectations that it would have been released in March. Recently revised guidelines from the department do however underline that faith groups should have child protection policies in place.
Agu Irukwu is the lead pastor at Jesus House in north London, one of the largest African-led Pentecostal churches in Britain. He says uncertainty over the allegations - and absence of the government's findings, is undermining an entire community that now feels labelled child abusers.
"It is extremely important to have this research published," said Pastor Irukwu, one of the organisers of Monday's conference on combating allegations of the occult within the British African diaspora.
"We don't know the truth and real extent of what we are dealing with, and rumours are beginning to run rife. We are concerned that unless the government handles this wisely, it could in fact drive a wedge between black-majority churches and the wider society, particularly when the newer churches are beginning to make their contributions in addressing some of society's problems.
'We want to help to facilitate positive steps towards finding and applying meaningful solutions, but we cannot do so if the government does not consult with us adequately."
Widespread problem?
African churches are the fastest growing sector of Christianity in Britain, not least because of growth of the communities themselves.
" ... Overpowers witchcraft ... I can try to help you break the powers of Black Magic cast on you and help prevent you from becoming a victim ... he will help you with protection against enemies, exorcism, no false hope ... I know the most powerful spells - I can cure people of evil forces and witchcraft ..."
Excerpts from leaflets from some spiritual healers operating in London
Many of these new communities have developed in vulnerable circumstances - almost all of the estimated 20,000 Congolese in the UK arrived as asylum seekers and refugees - and the popular churches are part of networks that provide support to the beleaguered amid uncertainty.
But at the same time, other entirely separate beliefs are present in the UK which, according to experts, masquerade as Christianity and prey on the most alienated and isolated members of society.
Parts of London with large African populations are regularly leafleted by traditional "spiritual healers" calling themselves "Doctor" or "Professor".
Some of these healers, who also advertise in the African media, say they can tackle "black magic" - although most claim to be experts in little more than broken relationships.
But according to experts it is within this world of fearful fragile communities that "healers" who go beyond the Christian concepts of possession and exorcism have been plying their trade. Some of them are presenting themselves as upstanding Christian leaders in order to gain power and influence.
Sita Kisanga: Convicted of aiding and abetting cruelty to "Child B"
David Pearson of the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service, an expert body which connects faith groups to authorities, says that he has found Congolese church leaders looking for all the support they can get in rooting out these healers.
In the wake of the 2005 allegations, Mr Pearson's organisation, backed by the Metropolitan Police, met Congolese pastors about professional child protection training.
They agreed an initial plan to train 60 pastors in London this spring. Such has been the community's concerns, some 230 churchmen signed up for the course in how to spot child abuse.
"These are relatively new communities and many of them don't speak English as a first language," he says.
"They were already feeling alienated - and what they told us was that they felt excluded from society - but very much wanted to be part of it.
"The child sacrifice allegations have alienated them even further because they have all been tarred with the same brush."
Cases in context
But Detective Inspector Bob Pull of the Metropolitan Police does not underestimate the complexity of the problems faced by both communities and the authorities.
EXORCISM AND CULTURE
We know that ndoki does exist - back home and everywhere else too there are people who are used by the devil to bring a curse or bad luck to other people's lives, even to kill them
Pastor Modeste Muyulu
'Exorcism is part of our culture
Insp Bull, who is also a Christian pastor, is a member of Project Violet, the Met's unit investigating faith-related child abuse.
Of the 42,000 child abuse allegations the Met has dealt with in the past five years, 52 of them were related to allegations against African spiritualists offering "deliverance" from possession. Eight of these have ended up in court, although other investigations resulted in action by social services.
Insp Bull says that much of his work has involved working with Congolese and Angolan church leaders to educate the vulnerable in how to quickly identify behaviour that should not be part of a Christian ministry.
"There is a section of society that has got so much respect for pastors [as community leaders] that some of these figures have got too much authority and power," says Insp Bull.
"We [police and bona fide African churches] are working together to challenge them on their theology - when someone quotes the Bible at me, I can quote it back at them."
"I have been encouraged by the people I am working with - the amount of time they have spent talking to the police and others is a really significant shift in terms of the community's involvement.
"But I'm not naive - there are individuals within the communities who will disregard what [Christian leaders] say and still be involved in child abuse.
"But let's be clear, there is no excuse for child abuse in any context which is why we are working with the communities to both educate and enforce the law."
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| theyithian Keeping the British end up
Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Total posts: 11704 Location: Vermilion Sands Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 29-06-2006 17:36 Post subject: |
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Following on:
| Quote: | Witchcraft' study prompts action
The murder of Victoria Climbie highlighted the belief in witchcraft
Action to tackle child abuse linked to "witchcraft" accusations has been stepped up following a report into the issue, the government says.
The government-commissioned study into cases among UK African communities said belief in witchcraft was widespread.
But the number of child abuse cases as a result was small compared with the overall figure, researchers said.
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said any cases of abuse would not be tolerated.
"Child abuse can never be acceptable in any culture, any community, in any circumstance," Ms Hughes said.
A comprehensive multi-agency strategy had already been put in place to speed up identification of cases and deal with the perpetrators, Ms Hughes said.
And a new project funded by the government would intensify efforts to tackle the problem in London, she added.
The report by Eleanor Stobart was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills in the wake of high-profile court cases involving the abuse of African children following allegations of witchcraft.
It follows a controversial Metropolitan Police report last year suggesting that abuse linked to churches was rife.
'Scapegoating'
The report, Child Abuse Linked to Accusations of Possession and Witchcraft, examined cases of abuse which occurred since January 2000.
It identified 74 cases of abuses linked to witchcraft allegations, many of which had common factors - such as a child being scapegoated, family structure and disability.
"By recognising these patterns and links it may be possible to identify children at risk early and prevent cases from escalating," the report states.
The report makes five principal recommendations, saying national and local government should:
* Maintain a central record of child abuse cases linked to witchcraft allegations
* Collect better information about the movement of children in and out of the UK
* Ensure places of worship have child protection procedures in place
* Encourage the preparation of "good practice" guidelines by agencies in the field
* Forge better links with non-governmental organisations
The report has been welcomed by a church child welfare group.
David Person of the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service said the vast majority of established African churches took seriously their responsibility to safeguard children, but newer groups needed to be targeted.
"Many of these congregations are made up of people who are relatively recent arrivals to the UK who have not addressed the issues," Mr Pearson said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5129418.stm
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| gyrtrash Manflesh Joined: 27 Dec 2001 Total posts: 2093 Location: On the Quest for the Holy Ale Gender: Male |
| Posted: 22-03-2007 22:38 Post subject: Proof of Witches! |
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I like this! 
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e27_1173581537
A news article (was this news footage for real?!) showing, er, 'Witches' flying around Mexico. And the local Ufologists get in on the act too. |
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| witchflame BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Total posts: 217 Location: Down the back of the sofa with lord lucan, an undiscovered shakespearian sonnet and 10p Gender: Female |
| Posted: 23-03-2007 00:15 Post subject: |
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Im not a witch, Im not a witch. They just dressed me up like one. And I dont weigh the same as a duck.  |
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| ChristopherK2 Grey Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Total posts: 24 Location: The dovecot at Sucinio. Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 13-06-2007 09:29 Post subject: Who do you label as a witch and why? |
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I know that there is an area for user blogs now but it seemed appropriate to publicize one here.
http://what-is-witchcraft.blogspot.com/
I have set up this blog to explore who people label as witches and why. It's very much in its infancy. If you are interested in the nature of the witch and the relationship between witches and the community please contribute. |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 13-06-2007 10:02 Post subject: Re: Proof of Witches! |
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Class! I hope it's not a spoof.  |
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| ChristopherK2 Grey Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Total posts: 24 Location: The dovecot at Sucinio. Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 11-07-2007 11:52 Post subject: |
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The Daily Times
Malawi
5 July 2007
http://www.dailytimes.bppmw.com/article.asp?ArticleID=5490
| Quote: | Three to serve 42 months jail for witchcraft
BY FRANCIS TAYANJAH-PHIRI
12:51:17 - 05 July 2007
A NKHATA BAY court has sentenced three people to 42 months in prison each on charges of teaching children witchcraft for about two years.
The three, Pekamu Dende Banda, 72, Nyampata Dende Banda, 64, and Leah Nyimba, 68, all from Mung’oma Village, Chief Mkumbira in Nkhata Bay, were nabbed for allegedly teaching children witchcraft.
“The three appeared before Second Grade Magistrate Billy Ngosi in Nkhata Bay after being charged with the crime of Pretending Witchcraft. They denied the allegations but Ngosi found all of them guilty,” said northern region police spokesperson, John Namalenga.
According to him, the magistrate said it was imperative that a stiff sentence be meted on the convicts in order to reduce cases of witchcraft in the district.
Court and police records indicate that three children aged 11, 6 and 4, disclosed to their parents that they were tired of being taught witchcraft.
Prior to the disclosure, one of the parents told court that she used to find her daughter outside their house early morning each day. After being quizzed, the girl, 11, revealed that the suspects were flying her through witchcraft to different destinations during the night.
The other two children complained to their parents on May 2 that they were tired of flying with the suspects at night. They also disclosed that when they refused to fly, the three witchcraft trainers would always beat them.
When the matter was taken to the village head, the suspects admitted to the allegations. Later, the suspects refused to attend a cleansing ceremony when chiefs in the area called for a witchdoctor.
The matter, according to Namalenga, was then referred to police, where a charge of Pretending Witchcraft was opened.
“The witchdoctor surrendered the charms and the clothes the convicts used in their trade, which were treated as exhibits in court,” said Namalenga.
Copyright @ 2005 BNL Limited, Malawi
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 17-04-2008 08:34 Post subject: |
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Village primary's witch logo scares students
By Ben Farmer
Last Updated: 7:10am BST 17/04/2008
A village school is to scrap its historic witch logo because of fears that it drives away pupils and teachers.
Warboys Community Primary School has used the emblem of a witch riding a broomstick on its uniforms for more than 60 years.
Warboys is the last recorded place in England where witches were hanged
The unusual badge, which also adorns the clocktower and kits of sports teams, marks the fact that the Cambridgeshire village was the last place in England to hang witches.
But the school's governing body wants to get rid of the logo as part of measures to give it a "fresh start" after suffering poor inspection reports.
A statement from the school claimed: "The school is aware that some parents choose not to send their children to Warboys and cite the witch as one of the reasons why.
"It is also known that some potential teachers and head teachers have cited the witch logo as a reason not to apply for posts."
The school added: "Witchcraft and Hallowe'en does not form part of the school curriculum and is something schools go out of their way to avoid."
However, the decision by governors has caused concern in the village, where residents have collected a petition of more than 1,000 names protesting at the change.
The parish council has also expressed "major concerns" at the move. Jill Pierce, the owner of the village post office, said: "This has gone well outside the school now.
"All our customers are signing the petition, some from other villages.
"Customers who have been here a long time feel it is a threat to their history."
Sally Pryke, a councillor, said: "I can't believe that the people who are responsible for our children's education are so blinkered.
"Parents said they would rather money was spent on the children's education, school books and equipment than replacing the logo." Villagers say that teachers are put off by the school's poor reputation rather than its logo.
Martin Kelsey, the head teacher charged with improving the school, said: "From the villagers' point of view, it's an emotive issue, because they are very, very proud of their history."
Warboys is the last recorded place in England where witches were hanged.
Alice Samuels, in her late 70s, her husband John and her daughter Agnes were executed in 1593 after being accused by a 10-year-old girl, her four sisters and servants of causing them to have fits.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/17/nschool117.xml |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 17-04-2008 08:38 Post subject: |
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| rynner wrote: | Village primary's witch logo scares students
By Ben Farmer
Last Updated: 7:10am BST 17/04/2008
A village school is to scrap its historic witch logo because of fears that it drives away pupils and teachers.
Warboys Community Primary School has used the emblem of a witch riding a broomstick on its uniforms for more than 60 years.
Warboys is the last recorded place in England where witches were hanged
The unusual badge, which also adorns the clocktower and kits of sports teams, marks the fact that the Cambridgeshire village was the last place in England to hang witches.
But the school's governing body wants to get rid of the logo as part of measures to give it a "fresh start" after suffering poor inspection reports.
A statement from the school claimed: "The school is aware that some parents choose not to send their children to Warboys and cite the witch as one of the reasons why.
...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/17/nschool117.xml |
Now, this really should be over on the 'Political Correctness Gone Mad Thread.'
The school gets a bad inspection report and these 'Governors' try to blame it on the school logo! 
As if re-branding is going to help.  |
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| PeniG Proud children's writer Joined: 31 Dec 2003 Total posts: 2920 Location: San Antonio, Texas Age: 52 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 17-04-2008 13:46 Post subject: |
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| Okay, isn't anybody boggled by the fact that this town is proud to have committed this form of judicial murder longer than anywhere else in the country? It's as if some town in the U.S. had a "Strange Fruit" logo of a man dangling from a tree. |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 17-04-2008 14:02 Post subject: |
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| PeniG wrote: | | Okay, isn't anybody boggled by the fact that this town is proud to have committed this form of judicial murder longer than anywhere else in the country? |
Well, when the logo was first used, many generations had passed since the last 'judicial murder' (  ), so nobody in this century is going to feel any personal responsibility or guilt for it.
The logo merely represents an historical fact, and if you want to put a positive spin on it, it could represent "Thank goodness we're not so superstitious now, and are no longer so cruel."
"Those who forget their past are doomed to repeat it" (or whatever the saying is). |
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