FT238

On 22 May, the story goes, three cats were crossing the busy Aba/Port Harcourt Expressway near Garrison Junction in Nigeria’s Rivers State when they were hit by an okada (motorcycle taxi). One escaped, another was killed, and the third, which was injured, writhed on the ground and turned into a woman, described by journalist Bolaji Ogundele as both “middle aged” and as “a beautiful young lady”. A crowd soon gathered, accused her of being a witch and began to beat her up with planks and anything else to hand. After the beating, according to an alleged witness who gave his name as Darlington, the woman said she and her two companions had taken the form of cats and had came to Port Harcourt from Abuja to kill three people with witchcraft.