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The Witch Killers

Mighty_Emperor

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
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Aug 18, 2002
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I suppose this is another aspect of muti - children actually being accused of being withces:

Children in Angola tortured as witches
Sun Mar 28, 9:40 AM ET



By Paul Salopek Tribune foreign correspondent

Helena Kufumana makes a pathetic witch.



Far from exuding wickedness, the 13-year-old schoolgirl is nervous and shy. Her "101 Dalmatians" cartoon T-shirt is grubby and doesn't fit. She swings her bare feet beneath her chair in the hyper way that all kids do. And she cries a lot. Especially about the torture.

Last month Helena was accused by her parents of sickening two of her nieces with evil spells. In retaliation, the bewildered girl says, one of her small hands was burned on a red-hot stove. Her meager possessions, including her clothes, were torched. She was choked. And finally, to destroy her reputation in the community, she was beaten in front of a large crowd. Her mother and elder sisters administered these punishments.

"They tell me that if I try to come home they will kill me," sobbed Helena her tears spattering the floor of the church shelter where she has run for safety. "They say I'm cursed."

Many children seem to be cursed these days in the impoverished hinterlands of Angola--accused of witchcraft by their families, then systematically abused, abandoned and even killed for imagined acts of witchcraft.

The scale and viciousness of the attacks on so-called criancas feiticeiras, or child witches, confounds even hardened human-rights workers in the war-haunted country, and some said the abuse is one of the most disturbing outbreaks of domestic violence seen in Africa in recent years.

In Uige, a sleepy hill town near the Congo border, children's advocates said that a teenager accused of sorcery was set ablaze by a mob that included his own relatives. Another boy was buried alive, beneath the corpse of a man he allegedly hexed, rights workers said. The luckier children are merely banished from their homes. They roam the streets like pariah dogs, surviving hand-to-mouth off food scraps from the markets.

"Many of the thousands of street children across Angola are probably victims of this trend," said Matondo Alexandre, a child-protection expert with the United Nations (news - web sites) Children's Fund in Angola.

"This is something new to us," Alexandre added. "In African culture it is usually the older people who are accused of practicing witchcraft. Now we're even seeing cases popping up involving babies."

Why Angolans are turning with such horrific ferocity against their young, especially at this relatively benign point in their wounded history, is a question few experts can answer with certainty.

Possible causes of abuse

Some blamed the recent proliferation of fire-and-brimstone evangelical churches in Angola, whose apocalyptic vision of the universe--and profit from exorcisms--meshes nicely with an epidemic of witchcraft.

Others cited the spread of particularly noxious beliefs in magic from neighboring Congo, where the phenomenon of child sorcerers also is taking root in an atmosphere of economic and political lawlessness.

But most experts agreed that the true answers lie buried in the social wreckage of Angola's immensely degrading civil war, a 27-year fratricide that ended barely two years ago and has left Angola with a staggering case of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Witchcraft fears have broken out in many societies during times of distress," said Francisco de Mata Mourisca, the Roman Catholic bishop of Uige, whose sprawling hilltop compound has lately become a magnet for shy, hungry and sometimes battered children who come seeking refuge from witch hunts.

"But you have to ask yourself, why our children?" de Mata Mourisca said. "The answer in Angola is simple. Because war has brutalized our families in the same way it destroyed our homes and streets."

That certainly rings true in Uige, an old coffee-growing town set amid the hauntingly beautiful green hills of the Angolan plateau, where a spike in fatal child-abuse cases is alarming social workers.




According to rights advocates in town, children as young as 5 have been hanged, stoned to death, raped, burned and drowned in rivers after being accused of sorcery.

The common themes in all their stories--besides heartbreak--are parental bonds that have snapped under the strain of rebel assaults, government counterattacks, mindless violence, disease, mass starvation, scattered families, abandoned marriages and the press-ganging of children into various armed factions.

Blighted hope is a new factor: Two years after the homicidal rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was gunned down by government troops, thus ending one of the world's longest civil wars, life for most Angolan families still hasn't improved. Almost half the nation's children are malnourished.

"Nobody can care for all these scattered children anymore," wheezed Carolina Jorge, a 45-year-old grandmother who by Western standards looked a wizened 85. "They just get spoiled by witchcraft."

Jorge's grandchildren, Jose, 10, and Carolina, 7, apparently fall into that hapless category.

The two siblings moved in with their grandmother recently after their parents died of undetermined illnesses--possibly AIDS (news - web sites). As usual, the children were blamed for bewitching their own father and mother. Last month police found the whimpering brother and sister trussed up, beaten and imprisoned in an animal pen behind Jorge's bleak mud hut.

Accused abuser jailed

In a rare government reaction to such abuse, the woman was thrown in jail for five days.

"Those children weren't normal," Jorge said, unrepentant. "They had a suitcase that made a singing noise. And the boy messed his bed every night. He was possessed."

The traumatized boy, girl and their offending suitcase were shipped to an orphanage in the distant capital of Luanda.

The final ingredients in Angola's sad and baffling epidemic of child persecution are the men who profit from it, men like Papa Matumona.

Sporting immaculate white pants and a colorful shirt stenciled repeatedly with the face of Marilyn Monroe, the most powerful kimbandero, or faith healer, in Uige runs an evangelical treatment center for child witches. Others call it a torture chamber.

"He forces them to jump and dance for hours during the hottest part of the day" in order to cleanse them of magical powers, said Leopoldina Neto, a UNICEF (news - web sites) child-protection officer in town. "He beats them. He puts chili powder in their eyes and drips boiling palm oil in their ears."

Matumona, 51, denied this.

`I cure with love'

"I cure with love," he said, clutching a Bible at his Provincial Center for Traditional Psychiatry, located in a war-ruined former pastry factory.

Matumona said his services were free but later admitted that he put his stream of young patients to work in his vegetable gardens to pay off their treatment fees--a commercialization of suffering that makes witchcraft one of the few profitable ventures in postwar Angola aside from oil.

Other kimbanderos demand a goat or an aluminum pot from parents in order to identify which son or daughter is a witch. Thus the supply-demand circle is completed.

UN aid workers are hoping to break this cycle of exploitation by launching parent education campaigns. It will be an uphill battle.

An internationally funded study of the problem has been shelved. Its chief Angolan researcher, like most of the local police responsible for protecting children's rights, actually concluded that sorcery was real.

The only voices raised in defense of child witches, then, are often their own.

"It's all lies," said Sebastiao Nzuzi, 12, a smiling, bald little boy who had been stoned in his village for being a wizard. "I don't need to be cured. I'm as normal as anybody."

Sebastiao had soaked up some self-esteem lessons at the local Catholic orphanage. Twenty child witches were staying there in a clean, sturdy little house under some eucalyptus trees.

It was good that the house was sturdy. Because the next afternoon people from the surrounding slums gathered to stone the building. The boys, they shouted, were flying over their shacks at night, trying to bewitch their children. Sebastiao, like the other accursed, huddled inside.

Source
 
Witch burnt to death by mob

Another story from the times of Swaziland (13/04/04)
http://www.times.co.sz/031.html#article5

Inyanga burnt to death

BY SANDILE NKAMBULE

Luve – In yet another shocking alleged witchcraft incident, a traditional healer (inyanga) was brutally assaulted and burnt to death and his wife set alight by a mob.

They also set four of the houses in the homestead ablaze.

Mpini Simelane was also stabbed in the process, and his wife Annah Simelane who sustained serious burn wounds is presently fighting for her life at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Mbabane Government Hospital.

The gruesome incident is said to have happened on Wednesday night just after 10pm while the two were at their home.

Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Vusi Masuku confirmed the incident.

So serious is the situation that the remaining family members are now living in fear of their lives as they think that the mob might strike again.

Ordeal

Relating the terrible ordeal on Thursday afternoon, the deceased’s second wife, Simephi Dlamini, said that they were all asleep when the mob stormed their home.

Dlamini, who was in the company of her sister-in-law, Emelinah Simelane, said that they woke up after hearing people making noise outside the home yard.

When they went to check what the noise was all about they were shocked to see one of the houses where the deceased kept his herbs (indumba) on fire.

The deceased rushed to investigate the fire and while they were still trying to figure out what was happening, the mob started dousing the other houses with petrol and set them alight.

It was then that they went for the house where Annah (Simelane’s first wife) was, doused it with petrol and set it on fire and in the process burning the sleeping Annah.

“Annah came out screaming and we tried to put out the fire but she had already been severely burnt” she said.

She said that her husband had already been caught by part of the mob and they severely assaulted and stabbed him before they doused him with the petrol and burnt him to death.

The shorts and a blazer that the deceased was wearing were still on the spot where he died.

The other family members, mainly the children, had already fled the scene as they had seen that the mob meant business.

By this time, however, one of them had already called the police through the emergency line 999 and the police are said to have called the Fire Services personnel, who arrived and tried to put out the fire that had already destroyed the houses.

Dlamini is now concerned because they have no food and the money that her husband had was also burnt to ashes inside the indumba.

The grieving Dlamini told the Swazi News team that the deceased had only spent a day at his home following his recent trip to South Africa.

Caught

When asked as to what the mob said when they were doing all this, Dlamini said that they only shouted to the effect that at last they had caught the man they had been looking for as he had refused with cattle.

The cattle in question are said to have been paid as dowry (lobola) by the deceased for another wife, but were later fetched. However, some are said to have accused the deceased of witchcraft.

By the time this report was compiled, no arrests had been made as police are still investigating the matter.

Mobs burning witch's to death is very rare , even in africa where most people tend to be quite superstisus (they tend to be more afraid of repercussion rather than they are afraid of the witch doctors).
 
Witch Killers of Africa

It seems to be quite a widespread issue see this article:

The Witch Killers of Africa

It seems if you aren't being hacked up for muti purposes that you are being sniffed out by a witch finder and killed.

Emps
 
Monday , May 24, 2004


Branded witch, she was bludgeoned to death by neighbours

Rohit Bhan

Dahod, May 23: It’s just two days since Savsinh Makwana and his brother Raman of Jari Bhuzarg village in Dahod killed their their neighbour — a 40-year-old widow. But as he sits in the lock-up of Garbada police station, remorse is the last thing on his mind.

For, he is convinced that he has done the right thing by killing Ditaben Punia Sanghor, who, according to him, is a daakan (witch). His conviction has been reinforced by the fact that when he and his brother hit her on the head with an axe on Friday, she did not bleed.

It is yet another gory tale emerging from the dark world of superstition from the tribal hinterlands of Dahod district. Ditaben was killed by Savsinh and Raman who believed that it was her witchcraft which led to the death of their eight-year-old niece.

‘‘I hit her thrice with the axe but no blood came out. It’s quite clear that she was a daakan. We had to repeatedly hit her on the head before she died. But still, no blood came out,’’ he says to corroborate his view that Ditaben was indeed a witch. Savsinh had turned himself in to police soon after the killing and expects his brother Raman to follow suit. ‘‘He has done no crime,’’ he shouts from the lock-up.

Back in the village, Ditaben’s relatives are stunned. There’s more anger than grief. Her only son Ramesh has just returned from Gandhidham where he has been working as a labourer for the last four months. He gives a blank stare as you ask him about the brutal murder of his mother. A little prodding, and he blurts out furiously, ‘‘She was not a daakan. Those who killed her should be punished.’’ His younger sister Shantaben echoes the same sentiments. Ditaben was alone at her place when she was attacked by the two accused. While two of her four daughters are married, the other two also work as labourers in Gandhidham along with their brother.

Ramesh’s uncle, Maliabhai who has lodged the police complaint refuses to say anything fearing it would aggravate the situation in the village. Not surprising because, barring a few relatives of Ditaben, a majority of the 6,000-odd villagers firmly believe that she was a daakan.

Sarpanch Shanker Ganava said, ‘‘The villagers approached me last year when a girl in the family of the accused died. They suspected four women, Ditaben was one of them, of being a daakan. I immediately called a meeting of both the sides.’’

At the meeting, it was decided that the four women would be sent to a hadwa (witch doctor) in a village in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, for identifying the real ‘witch’. ‘‘The bhadwa told the villagers that Ditaben was not a daakan and singled out another woman. But since she was related to the family of the accused, they decided to approach another bhadwa at Jhagadia for confirmation,’’ said Ditaben’s cousin brother, Butiabhai.

It was at Jhagadia that Ditaben was branded a witch and others let off, say villagers. Repeated attempts by the village elders to rid Ditaben of the ‘evil spirit’ by shaving off her hair and subjecting her to some ‘vidhi was resisted by her, resulting in resentment building up against her.

The last straw was when Kaliabhai, one of the Makwana brothers, died on Sunday followed by the death of his eight-year-old daughter Shanta on Friday due to excessive vomiting.

‘‘She (Ditaben) told us that this was just the beginning and all our family members will meet the same fate. We had no other option but to kill her,’’ says Savsinh.

Garbada police officials, under whose jurisdiction the village falls, admit that attacks on women accused of being daakan is common in the tribal villages of the district though it does not usually end up in murder. ‘‘Those accused of being daakane are beaten up but since in majority cases it does not end up in murder, nobody approaches the police,’’ said a police official.

An activist working in the tribal areas attribute the recurring incidents to lack of awareness drives and called for strengthening of law against such acts. ‘‘Unless the police get involved in a major way and in work in tandem with organisations who seriously want to create awareness in these areas, such incidents are going to recur,’’ said social activist Kanubhai Brahmabhatt.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=85452
 
Sorcerer Sacrifice

http://news.newkerala.com/india-news/index.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=20778
India News > Sorcerer sacrificing youth burnt to death

Ranchi, June 3 (IANS) :

Angry villagers in Jharkhand, in eastern India, burnt alive a sorcerer who had tried to sacrifice a 22-year-old man by cutting his wrists, arms, forehead and other parts of his body to appease a local deity.

While the occult practitioner Dharidhar Karmakar is dead, Kamal Dutta is in a critical condition in a hospital in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district.

Police officials said the gruesome incident took place Wednesday at East Singhbhum's Mohuliaa village, 170 km from here.

A regular visitor to the Dutta household, Karmakar visited Wednesday morning to find Kamal and seven-year-old Payal at home. He offered them sweets. The unsuspecting youngsters had them and fell unconscious.

Police officials said Karmakar then dragged away Kamal and proceeded to slit his wrist, throat, thighs, forehead and other parts of the body. Payal recovered and raised an alarm when she found Kamal in a pool of blood.

Villagers appeared on the scene and started thrashing Karmakar. He initially denied any involvement and then confessed that he was trying to kill the youth to pacify the deity.

Incensed, an angry villager poured kerosene on him and set him afire. Kamal was rushed to the nearest hospital where he was given 50 stitches.

"We will know all the facts after the youth recovers and gives us a statement. We have directed the local police station to lodge a first information report (FIR) for Karmakar's killing," said district police chief Arun Oraon.

Superstition is rampant in tribal dominated Jharkhand and more than 700 people have been sacrificed by occult practitioners and witchdoctors.
 
Cambodian sorcerer, two sons shot dead

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - An apparent black magic mystic and his two sons were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in rural Cambodia, police said Sunday.

Eam Khon, 54, and his two sons Sarn Thoeun, 24, and Sarn Sot, 15, were gunned down Saturday in Prey Koh village, 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of the capital Phnom Penh, police said.

"Some villagers say the father knew how to use black magic, but we have yet to identify the motive of the killing," a policeman who asked not to be named told AFP, adding that an investigation had been launched.

The gunmen raided Eam Khon's house and shot him dead as he fled towards a nearby stream, the officer said. The two sons attacked the men with axes, but the killers opened fire on them and then fled.

The apparent powers of the occult are not taken lightly in Cambodia, where people are highly superstitious. The police officer said the use of black magic is especially common in Kampong Speu province where the killings occurred.

http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/mon/jun21w13.htm
 
Occult links to dead Cornish councillor?

Occult link to drowned councillor

Detectives investigating the death of a Cornish parish councillor have confirmed they are looking at possible links with the occult.
They believe 56-year-old Peter Solheim, from Carnkie, was interested in black magic.

Police launched the murder hunt after fishermen recovered Mr Solheim's body five miles off the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, on 18 June.

He was last seen launching his dinghy at Mylor Harbour on 16 June.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokeswoman said: "We are aware of his interest in the occult and it is one of a number of lines of inquiry we are following up."

The Arch Druid of Cornwall, Ed Prynn, has confirmed to the BBC that Mr Solheim was also a druid.

Mr Prynn said: "He was such a nice guy. We used to talk a lot about boating and fishing.

"He was a wonderful story teller, it's only just sunk in what has happened"

But he said: "I always teach people not to dabble with the occult, the darker side".

Officers questioned more than 200 people at Mylor on Thursday.

Police said the operation led to about a dozen lines of inquiry which merited further investigation.

Members of Cornwall's druid community are expected to be interviewed in connection with Mr Solheim's interests.

Although Mr Solheim drowned, a post-mortem examination revealed a number of "unexplained injuries" on his body.

Police said his small white dinghy - with its key in the ignition - was spotted drifting in Mylor harbour by a local boatman on 17 June.

Police want to hear from a man called Charlie who it is thought Mr Solheim was going to meet at the time of his disappearance.

An examination of Mr Solheim's body revealed he had not been in the water long when he was found.

This and the fact that his 18ft fishing boat, the Izzwizz, was found floating in Carrick Roads led officers to start the murder inquiry.

Police said it was "not feasible" that the body could have floated from Mylor to the spot where it was found.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3859435.stm

"unexplained injuries" : ritualised scarring or wounds perhaps?
 
THE BLACK MAGIC WORLD OF MURDER VICTIM FATHER OF 3



09:30 - 02 July 2004

A Murder probe into the mysterious death of a West parish councillor took a macabre turn yesterday as police admitted it may be linked to black magic and the occult.

The body of quiet father-of-three Peter Solheim was discovered two weeks ago by fishermen floating in the sea off Black Head, near The Lizard, Cornwall. His death was immediately treated as suspicious, and "unexplained" injuries over the victim's body and other mysterious details prompted police to launch a murder inquiry earlier this week.

Yesterday, they confirmed they were investigating whether Mr Solheim's death was linked to his long-standing interest in the occult which had frightened fellow pagans and driven him to leave a druid sect.

His fellow druids had become increasingly alarmed by Mr Solheim's growing interest with the darker aspects of the occult, Satanism and an obsession with knives.

They believed he was practising his own Satanic rituals away from their sect and eventually, some five years ago, divorced himself from their gatherings altogether.

Investigations into Mr Solheim's death quickly threw up details of his occult dabblings.

Det Sgt John Trott said yesterday: "We are aware of his interest in the occult and it is one of the lines of inquiry we are now pursuing.

"It came up in our background investigations into Mr Solheim and is being followed up."

Divorced and unemployed, Mr Solheim, 56, sat on the parish council for Budock, near Falmouth, but lived in Carnkie, near Helston, with his partner Margaret. His three adult children also live in the village.

Mr Trott refused to elaborate on the nature of the "unexplained, multiple injuries" which partly prompted the murder inquiry.

He said: "His injuries are still unexplained, but at this stage we are unable to go into more detail as it could be crucial to the investigation.

"If we subsequently find the people we are looking for who are responsible for the murder, there will be a court case and we do not want to jeopardise that."

As well as the injuries, the positions of Mr Solheim's body and the boat he sailed from Mylor Harbour, near Falmouth, have also puzzled police.

While the body was found off Black Head, the small dinghy was found 13 miles away, with the key still in the ignition, at Mylor Harbour.

Coastguards have said there is no way the small vessel could have drifted the meandering course back to the harbour.

It is believed Mr Solheim had arranged to meet a man known as Charlie the day before he was found dead.

Det Insp Neil Best said the men were due to take out Charlie's larger boat, possibly to go to France.

Mr Solheim had taken his dinghy to Mylor, accompanied by Margaret, who left him with the boat.

Mr Best said: "Charlie could be very significant to this investigation because he may have been the last person to see Mr Solheim alive."

Some 200 people in Mylor were questioned by police in a 15-hour operation that ended in the early hours of yesterday morning.

"We have had an excellent response," said Mr Trott. "I would say we have at least a dozen positive leads and we will be following them up in the next couple of days."

Mr Solheim had been unemployed for the last few years of his life, having been injured in an industrial accident at Stralfords Print Works in Camborne, Cornwall.

He had joined the parish council in nearby Budock a little over a year ago and its members knew nothing of his unusual interests.

Parish clerk Avril Gowing said: "He always struck me as a very pleasant, quiet man. He didn't live in the village, but visited his mother's house every day."

Chairman of the council John Bastion said earlier: "We went to Budock School and then Falmouth School together. He is a village boy and, although he moved away for a while, had a great depth of knowledge. He was a valuable councillor, friendly and very helpful."

Sinister mix of real satanists

The police theory that Peter Solheim was murdered because of his involvement with the occult will strike fear into the heart of many throughout the West.

Several years ago Mr Solheim joined a druid sect in St Merryn, Cornwall.

But according to members of the sect, Solheim became increasingly obsessed with sinister beliefs.

One, who did not wish to be named, said yesterday: "It became clear he wanted to go into areas that everyone else felt uncomfortable with.

"He started to get involved with Satanism and liked to go off and perform rituals on his own. He was always making knives and swords. We all became really worried about him.

"Once he tried to perform black magic spells on two other people, and that really upset them. I don't know what his rituals involved, but he would always do them on his own. Eventually, he stopped coming to gatherings."

Five years ago, Mr Solheim disassociated himself from the sect altogether.

Ed Prynn, the Arch-Druid of Cornwall, said: "He was a good guy and loved pagan life, but he seemed to want to go his own way."

What path Mr Solheim's followed is not yet, and may never be, known.

Occultism covers a wide array of non-conformist religions such Wicca and witchcraft, Druidic worship and Paganism - earth-based beliefs worshipping nature and considered harmless.

Satanism, however, has many strands and modern Satanists are themselves concerned with the earth, self-fulfilment and opposing organised Christianity.

Real Satanists are considered offensive even by those who would ally themselves to the occult.

"It's a dangerous thing to get mixed up in," said Prebendary Christopher Tookey, of the Diocese of Bath and Wells, an expert on the paranormal.

"People who claim to be witches and pagans would call themselves harmless. But anyone who would meddle in Satanism, that is bad by definition. They are saying, 'let evil be my god'.

"It is speculation but I would say Satanism is almost certainly going on in the South West. With human nature, if something can be done there will be people willing to do it."

Jon Downes, who has written extensively on the occult, added: "In my opinion there are no more than 50 real followers of the Church of Satan in the country.

"Most people who claim to be Satanists just have a couple of bad heavy metal albums and have watched a couple of horror movies."


http://www.westpress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?command=newPage&nodeId=145785&contentPK=10520736

Black magic link to Cornwall's murder riddle
By Jonathan Brown

02 July 2004

The talk in the bars and restaurants of Mylor harbour in Cornwall normally revolves around nothing more sinister than fishing, weather and the state of the tides. Yesterday it was of black magic and murder.

Police had interviewed 200 people overnight in the seaside town, a popular stopping off point for cruising yachts en route to France. They were questioned over the death of a parish councillor, 56-year-old Peter Solheim, whose body was found by fishermen 13 miles away, off Black Head on the Lizard Peninsula, two weeks ago.

His small white dinghy, Izzwizz, its key still in the ignition, was spotted adrift in Mylor harbour by the day before his body was found. The coastguard said he could not have fallen from his boat and drifted to Black Head on the natural tides, drift or currents.

Initial suspicions that he drowned have been discarded after unexplained injuries were found during a post-mortem examination. And yesterday one of the officers leading the inquiry said he was examining links with the occult.

Detective Sergeant John Trott, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said: "His interest in the occult has been made known to us. It is a line of inquiry that we are now pursuing. His injuries are still unexplained, but at this stage we are unable to go into more detail as it could be crucial to the investigation."

Mr Solheim, who was divorced and had three children, joined a Druid sect in St Merryn, Cornwall, several years ago. A school friend, John Bastin, said he had become increasingly interested in the supernatural after the flooding of his mother's home four years ago.

"The old clapper bridge over the river Budock was replaced by a proper road bridge next to his mother's house," Mr Bastin said. "He was convinced that the flooding, it happened twice, was due to the spirits of the river. He thought they had been upset by moving the old bridge and were punishing him. This is what got him interested in the council. To get the bridge changed back."

One member of the Druids, who wished to remain anonymous, said Mr Solheim's interests had become too extreme for the group and they parted ways at around the time of the floodings. "It became clear that he wanted to go into areas that everyone else felt uncomfortable with," the Druid said.

"He started to get involved with Satanism and liked to go off and perform rituals on his own. He was always making knives and swords, and he showed them to us. We all became really worried about him.

"Once he tried to perform black-magic spells on two other people, and that really upset them. I don't know what his rituals involved, but he would always do them on his own. Eventually, he stopped coming to gatherings."

Ed Prynn, the Arch-Druid of Cornwall, said his behaviour alarmed other members. "He was a good guy and he loved the pagan way of life, but he seemed to want to go his own way, and the others didn't want to go that way. He went off on his own to do pagan worship, but it's really meant to be a shared experience."

Mr Solheim, who lived part of the time at Carnkie, near Helston, was described by friends yesterday as a committed environmentalist and strong Cornish nationalist. He had developed an interest in antique guns and built up a collection despite being unemployed after suffering an industrial accident at his job at a printworks.

Police said they were working on a dozen positive leads they had received during the overnight operation to interview Mylor's residents. One line of inquiry is that he was going to meet a man called Charlie on the day before his body was discovered.

Detective Inspector Neil Best, who is leading the inquiry, said the two men were to meet to take Charlie's larger boat to sea, possibly to France. He said Mr Solheim had towed his dinghy behind a green Citroën to Mylor harbour, with his partner Margaret. She left him with the boat and drove home. "Charlie could be very significant to this investigation because he may have been the last person to see Mr Solheim alive," Det Insp Neil Best, said.

The Falmouth Coastguard has drawn up computer simulations of prevailing winds and tides on 16 and 17 June, when Mr Solheim was last seen. The coastguard says his body could not have travelled south to Black Head unassisted but would most likely have drifted towards France.

Photographs of the dead man and his partner have been displayed around the harbour, home to the world's last sea-going oyster fleet, to jog people's memories. Yacht owners have also been questioned. "We are open-minded about motive," Det Insp Best said. "There are a number of things about his background that are interesting."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=537281

Emps
 
A little more on this:

Occultists to be quizzed over mystery death

8.12PM, Wed Jul 7 2004


Detectives are to interview occultists about the mysterious death of a parish councillor pulled from the sea by a fishing boat.

Experts are also looking into the unexplained injuries found on the body of Peter Solheim, 56, from Carnkie, near Helston, Cornwall.

Detective Sergeant Trott, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said that officers knew of Mr Solheim's interest in the occult.

He added: "We are looking deeply into his background and we had become aware of it. It is one of the many lines of inquiry we are looking into."

Det Sgt Trott would not confirm whether the injuries suffered by Mr Solheim were connected to occult practices

He said: "The injuries are unexplained at this moment in time. Experts are looking into that."

The detective added that members of Cornwall's druid community are expected to be interviewed in connection with Mr Solheim's interests.

Mr Solheim's body was recovered from the sea by fishermen five miles off Black Head, on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, on the morning of June 18.

He was last seen launching his dinghy at Mylor harbour, near Falmouth, Cornwall, on June 16.

Police said that his small white dinghy, Izzwizz, with its key in the ignition, was spotted by a local boatman drifting in Mylor harbour on June 17.

Following the recovery of Mr Solheim's boat and a post-mortem examination that revealed he drowned but had suspicious "unexplained injuries", police launched a murder inquiry on Wednesday.

Coastguards' calculations showed it was "not feasible" that the body could have floated from Mylor to the spot where it was found - a distance of around 13 miles.

Shortly before his death, Mr Solheim, a collector of antique guns, talked about either going fishing or travelling abroad with a friend called Charlie, who had a larger boat.

http://www.itv.com/news/1522981.html

Emps
 
Between the devil and the deep blue sea

(Filed: 11/07/2004)


The body of Peter Solheim, a parish councillor and Satanist, was found off the Cornish coast two days after he told his girlfriend that he was meeting a mysterious friend. Police don't doubt that he was murdered but have no clue how or why he died.



In Mylor Churchtown, a village in Cornwall where boats outnumber the 200 residents by three to one, locals were preparing yesterday for the first busy weekend of the tourist season. As dawn broke, it could have been a scene from any Saturday of the summer, with yachtsmen preparing to set sail on the Carrick Roads harbour. The only things out of the ordinary were the dozen uniformed police officers mingling on the marina.

The conversation of villagers, which normally centres on the weather, the tides and the price of fish, is now dominated by one topic: the identity of the murderer who bludgeoned a local parish councillor and tossed his body into the sea. "This has become a place full of intrigue and suspicion," said Roger Graffy who, as managing director of Mylor Yacht Harbour, controls 500 of the 600 moorings off the south Cornish village. "Everyone has his or her own theory about how and why he died."

The victim is Peter Solheim, whose pursuits include trying to blow up his village bridge with home-made explosives as a teenager to a bizarre recent interest in Satanism. Mr Solheim, 56, a divorce with three grown-up children, was last seen alive shortly after lunchtime on Wednesday, June 16. His girlfriend, Margaret James, had left him and his 12ft dinghy on the slipway at Mylor, after he told her he was going to meet a friend called "Charlie". She had not expected him to return that night to his cottage in Carnkie, six miles from the harbour, because he was talking of making an overnight fishing trip or possibly a Channel crossing.

As far as anyone knows, Mr Solheim never cast his fishing line into the sea and he certainly did not make the journey to France. His body, naked except for the blue shirt that he was wearing when he was dropped off, was discovered by fishermen five miles off the Lizard Peninsula and 12 miles from Mylor, at lunchtime on Friday, June 18.

At first, locals assumed that he had been the victim of a tragic accident at sea. It is common for drowning victims to be stripped of their clothing by turbulent currents and the marks on his body were put down to a pounding on the rocky coastline.

A week ago, however, Devon and Cornwall Police announced that a post-mortem examination had revealed that although Mr Solheim had drowned, there were "unexplained injuries" on his body. A murder inquiry was launched that has so far involved 40 detectives, uniformed officers and police divers.

As they have conducted their investigation, I have - for the second time within three years - found myself embroiled in a tantalising murder mystery in the village where I live. In the spring of 2002, when my family home was in the north Cornwall village of Chapel Amble, a local farmer, Les Bate, 71, was robbed and beaten to death outside his home minutes after leaving the village pub at closing time. It was the first violent crime recorded in Chapel Amble since 1373 and I and every other villager was DNA tested, and cleared as a suspect. Thank goodness.

As Mr Bate's killer remained on the loose, two years ago I moved to Mylor, which was formerly Britain's smallest Royal Navy dockyard. Now, in a bizarre coincidence - a phrase that I have already used to the police - I have again found officers on my doorstep. And again I have found myself explaining how, as a weekly commuter, I was working in London at the time of the murder.

So in this case, too, the killer remains at large as police continue to delve into Mr Solheim's background for clues. He was the son of an engineer who once worked on a Norwegian whaling ship and he had inherited his father's love of the sea. He had, however, a rebellious streak and a fierce temper. Not only had he collected knives and air rifles as a boy, but he had planted a home-made bomb, made from weedkiller and sugar, under the bridge in his village of Budock Water. "The explosion was more smoke than fire, but it caused a bit of a stir," recalled Noel Lord, 68, a retired civil engineer.

John Bastin, 56, a lecturer, also grew up with Mr Solheim. Mr Bastin, who is the chairman of the Budock Parish Council on which his friend served from last year, said: "Peter had an adventurous and experimental streak. He tested the boundaries."

Years ago, Mr Solheim, who retired as a printer after an accident at work, joined an innocuous druid sect in St Merryn, north Cornwall. According to friends, however, he left the group to pursue a more sinister interest in Satanism and black magic. "He wanted to go into areas that everyone else felt uncomfortable with," said one sect member. Another acquaintance said Mr Solheim had once performed a black magic spell on two locals, who felt threatened and frightened.

Some locals suspect Mr Solheim's interest in the occult, antique guns and ornate swords may have been linked to his murder. Others whisper that when he said he was meeting "Charlie", a street name for cocaine, he may have been planning a drugs deal at sea.

Others, with longer memories, suspect that Mr Solheim's past has finally caught up with him. In the 1990s, he had become friendly with Fred Trull, the clerk to the ancient Cornish Stannary Parliament. Mr Trull, who has since died, persuaded investors to part with £1.50 each to buy shares in tin mines that he said would allow them exemption from the poll tax. In 1994, the House of Lords ruled that there was no ancient exemption but by then up to £200,000 of the estimated £2 million collected had "disappeared". Mr Solheim was one of those rumoured to have made money from the scheme, which many regarded as a "scam".

Detectives are keeping an open mind on the motive for the murder. Until late last week, police believed that Mr Solheim had left Mylor harbour alone in his white dinghy, Izzwizz. Now they are convinced, on the basis of a witness report, that he left with a a "white male, about 5ft 10in, and in his fifties".

Izzwizz was found floating off a pontoon at Mylor, with the key still in the ignition, on the morning after Mr Solheim went to sea. Suspicions are growing that the man Mr Solheim left with - possibly to go to a larger boat nearby - also beat him up, dumped his body at sea and hurriedly left the dinghy in the harbour before making his escape.

Detective Inspector Neil Best, who is in charge of the murder incident room in nearby Falmouth, said: "It is vital that we trace 'Charlie'. It is disappointing that he has not come forward."

Detectives have had one stroke of bad luck. Normally CCTV cameras monitor the marina, but they had been dismantled by police last month as evidence for a tragic accident in which a five-year-old boy was killed by a speedboat that had slipped off its trailer.

Det Insp Best is preparing himself for a lengthy murder inquiry: those with boats at Mylor live all over the UK and even as far away as Hong Kong. "It's a minefield out there," he said, pointing beyond the marina. "Boats come and go all the time and at the moment what happened to Peter Solheim out at sea is a complete mystery."

Source
 
brutal murder, two arested.Cornwall

"Last Updated: Tuesday, 13 July, 2004, 20:21 GMT 21:21 UK



Men charged with couple's murder


Carol and Graham Fisher were killed nine months ago
Police say two men have been charged with the murder of a Cornish couple on bonfire night last year.
Lee Firkin, 29, and his brother Robert, 31, from Weston-Super-Mare,were charged on Tuesday night. They will appear before Torbay Magistrates on Wednesday.

Graham and Carol Fisher, 60 and 53, owned and ran a garage near Wadebridge. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3891825.stm
 
Yup Jon, I heard this on the news and thought of you. Erm, in a nice way.

People round there will perhaps feel safer now.
Do we know whether the arrested people were local, known to the victims, etc?
 
no details at all really yet.... nasty bisness, at the weekend we drove past the garage and saw somone was clearing it out with a bonfire on the grass by the bungalow.. my opinion is that it must be personal.... both were batterd when dead and lieing on the ground with multipul shotgun wounds.
 
theres the other one as well...posibly more Fortean. And just up the way from me too!
"The talk in the bars and restaurants of Mylor harbour in Cornwall normally revolves around nothing more sinister than fishing, weather and the state of the tides. Yesterday it was of black magic and murder.

Police had interviewed 200 people overnight in the seaside town, a popular stopping off point for cruising yachts en route to France.

They were questioned over the death of a parish councillor, 56-year-old Peter Solheim, whose body was found by fishermen 13 miles away, off Black Head on the Lizard Peninsula, two weeks ago" http://www.wytchesweb.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2718
 
This one is weird, he seems to have fallen out with the local pagan community.
ps. I'm over your way at the Pandora Saturday afternoon. Mylor!:eek!!!!:
 
brian ellwood said:
This one is weird, he seems to have fallen out with the local pagan community.
ps. I'm over your way at the Pandora Saturday afternoon. Mylor!:eek!!!!:

well...i saw severil papers phoned up Edd Pynn!... not an exceedingly reliable source!.. Pandora is pirti interesting historicaly... conected to the Pandora that was sent to aprehend the Mutineers from the Bounty.
 
My parents live 4 miles from Wadebridge and have used that garage for more than twenty years.
 
Physick said:
My parents live 4 miles from Wadebridge and have used that garage for more than twenty years.

to me it always looked sort of delapidated and uncared for...sinester even.
 
Tanzanian 'witch killers' charged

By Vicky Ntetema
BBC correspondent in Dar es Salaam

Some 20 people in Tanzania have been charged with murdering seven men they suspected of practising witchcraft.

Among the accused are village leaders and other local officials, who ordered the killings, according to the police.

They had organised a secret ballot where residents named the alleged witches and wizards, who were then attacked with machetes and spears.

Seven others were injured in the attacks police describe as the most atrocious ever seen in the area.

Killing squad

Those on the hit list, drafted by village leaders near Makete in Iringa region, were advised to leave their homes immediately or face the consequences.

Regional Police Commander Omar Mganga told the BBC that those who defied the local authorities' orders were then attacked by a killing squad of young men using clubs, machetes and spears.

"Our investigations showed that the victims were under the suspicion of fellow villagers' murders, after relatives noticed that certain organs were removed from the bodies of their loved ones," Police Commander Omar Mganga said.

During several raids, the police found the names of the murdered and injured victims in the minutes of one of the village meetings.

Some of the suspects, who appeared in Njombe magistrates court on Wednesday, include a councillor, a village chairperson and executive officers, a businessmen and farmers.

Their alleged involvement has shocked residents and police in the district.

'Police, judge, jury and executioner'

What is more worrying to many is the method of nominating people who are suspected of being involved in witchcraft.

Two months ago, villagers in a neighbouring district used a secret ballot to make a list of people who they claimed were responsible for killing old women and removing their internal organs for witchcraft purposes.

But they passed their list of suspects to the police, unfortunately, Police Commander Omar Mganga said, leaders of the three villages near Makete decided to be the police, judge, jury and executioner in these chilling and cruel murders.

Witchcraft-related murders seem to occur in this region during the harvest season, when some people believe that if fresh human blood or dried and powdered internal human organs are sprinkled over land and buildings then business will be successful.

In recent years, the trade in human organs has been on the increase in this southern part of Tanzania.

Human skinning, which hit the headlines two years ago, still haunts neighbouring Mbeya region where six young people were thought to have been killed and skinned.

The case will continue in two weeks.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/3535218.stm

Published: 2004/08/04 14:27:17 GMT

© BBC MMIV

See the muti murders thread for further information on the kind of things that have sparked this kind of killing:

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2064
 
Another report on that:

Mob Accused of Killing Tanzania Witches



By Associated Press

August 5, 2004, 11:19 AM EDT


IRINGA, Tanzania -- A mob armed with machetes, stones and knives killed seven people accused of practicing witchcraft in southern Tanzania, a regional police chief said Thursday.

Villagers said the alleged witches cut off the sexual organs of dead villagers and used them to concoct charms intended to bring good harvests and fortune.

About 22 villagers and local leaders appeared in a magistrate court Wednesday on charges of killing the seven -- five men and two women from three villages, said Omari Maganga, police chief for the southern Iringa region.

Police investigations indicated village leaders and other local officials ordered the killings after villagers informed on the victims, Maganga said.

Belief in witchcraft is common throughout rural Tanzania.

A 2002 report by the U.N.'s World Health Organization said an estimated 500 elderly women accused of witchcraft -- often connected with an event like crop failure -- are murdered every year in Tanzania.

Others have killed relatively wealthy villagers they accused of being witches and then claimed their property.

The killings have also been linked to a cross border trade in human skins that are used in witchcraft. Some people believe human skin protects a home from demons and spirits and when used in special rituals can increase harvests and lure clients to shops and other businesses.

Source
 
41 'witches' murdered in 4 years in Orissa village

By Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar
Monday, 27 September , 2004, 09:36

The tribal-dominated Sundargarh district of Orissa has been consistently reporting murder of persons suspected to be 'witches'.

And the toll in the last four years has come up to 41 since three women in the age group 51 to 81 in Hatibari were murdered, as they were suspected to be practising witchcraft.

That was in September 2001. Five people were arrested.The same year another five women and a old man were murdered in different villages as they were suspected to be witches. 2002 recorded murder of 14 including 7 women.

Those murdered included a 80- year-old man and an 18- year- old girl. 23 people were arrested in connection with these murders. Another 18 have been victims of the superstition so far.

Although the police have arrested the suspects and accused there has been no let up in old men and women becoming targets of people who suspect them of practising witchcraft and causing harm to people.The police sources affirm that it is more a social problem with wide apread superstition in the tribal area.This has to be tackled through awareness campaigns.

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13575783
 
Thursday, November 4, 2004

Woman killed on suspicion of being witch

Asian News International
Siliguri, November 4


A 70-year-old woman Nagasia was killed in Siliguri on Tuesday by two youths of her village on the suspicion of being a witch.

Bihani was beaten to death by two youths Sibon and Dhutu of her village. Both the accused charged the woman of allegedly practising witch craft. After being beaten mercilessly, she was taken to the hospital. She sustained major injuries, and died a day after being admitted in the hospital.

Whenever an outbreak of some disease occurs or more than one person dies, aged women are held responsible for practicing witch craft.

"They thought that she was a witch and killed her. Both the killers live here only. I don't know who is a witch, you should ask them who killed Bihani", said Maghnath Nagasia, son of the deceased.

Fate of the women, who is being accused of wicked practices is decided by the chief of the village. The administration claims that these types of incidents occur because of lack of proper education.

"Police on reaching the spot found that two guys were assaulting a 70 year old woman. We caught hold of the two accused and started a case against them. The lady was then taken to the hospital and a day after she died. We have started a case," Siliguri DSP Joy Biswas said.

In order to create awareness among the villagers about these kinds of practices, the administration has organised many street plays but the result is not upto the mark. In the last five years, 93 people have been killed, accused of practicing witchcraft in Jalpaiguri district alone.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7242_1089662,00180008.htm
 
Witchcraft Suspect Lynched, 2 Others Wounded



The Post (Buea)

November 16, 2004
Posted to the web November 19, 2004

Olive Ejang Tebug
Konye

Youths in Kokaka Village, Konye Sub-division, recently murdered one person and inflicted serious wounds on two others, following the death of one Solomon Nasako suspected to have been killed by three elders through witchcraft.

One of the victims, John Etuke, died in the course of the battle, while Paul Musima and Boniface Bamai, who were seriously wounded, are lying at the Presbyterian Hospital Manyemen.

The Genesis

Recounting the story to The Post at Kokaka, one of the villagers, Jonas Ekoe, said, Kokaka has been notorious for practising witchcraft for several years. He recalled that five years ago, about 30 children between the ages of six months to two years were killed in a space of one week in the village.

Ekoe said the families of the children found out from a herbalist, that Boniface Bamai was the brain behind the killings.

In last June, Ekoe continued, four pupils from the Kokaka Community Primary School were noted for performing mystical acts in the school. He said the children were brought to the village square, to explain their strange behaviour.

The children reportedly explained that Bamai initiated them into witchcraft through food he offered them.

Ekoe said the children revealed that since then, they have been holding spiritual meetings at midnight with Bamai and other elderly people in the village.

The children told the villagers that they have initiated many other children into their society.

This incident, Ekoe stated, led to the closure of the school. The children were all taken to a native doctor for treatment. He also said when the villagers questioned Bamai, he confessed having initiated the children.

Another villager, Cosmas Ebune, explained that about 20 youths, who called themselves "ECOMOG Boys", decided to burn Bamai to death in order to eliminate witchcraft from the village.

Ebune said Bamai was brought to the village square and tyres put round his body, but the Divisional Officer for Konye Sub-division, Michael Bongwa Makebeh, immediately intervened and rescued Bamai.

Ebune said the DO promised to charge Bamai to court, since he had evidence from the children's testimony.

"But, to our greatest dismay," Ebune said, "Bamai was released some months later and he returned to the village."

When Bamai returned to Kokaka, Ebune said, he formed a group of wizards, and they decided to kill all the ECOMOG Boys, who wanted him dead.

Bamai's first victim, Ebune revealed, was Solomon Nasako, one of the ECOMOG Boys who died on October 22.

He said Nasako was coming from the farm that day when he met a friend transporting cocoa from his oven to a vehicle waiting nearby. After helping the friend with two bags of cocoa, Nasako fell on the third bag, which was rather small.

Nasako was rushed to the Kumba District Hospital, where he died the following day.

When the villagers realised that Nasako's death was unnatural, they went to native doctor in Barombi Kotto Village, who reportedly revealed that Nasako's spirit told him he had been killed by Bamai, Etuke and Musima; and that 15 others were on a list to be killed by these men within two weeks.

The Fight

When Nasako's corpse was removed from the mortuary on October 29, the ECOMOG Boys came out with broken bottles, machetes and spears, ready to kill the three men, who allegedly murdered him.

Ebune recounted that the first person the boys met was John Etuke. He said they wounded Etuke around his neck and head and cut off one of his ears.

Ebune said the ECOMOG Boys caught Bamai in a beer parlour, pierced his eyes, and cut him to the point of death.

Meanwhile, Ebune said Musima was hit with a pestle and pierced with a spear, while those with machetes inflicted cuts on his body.

Amongst the three, Ebune said, only Etuke died some hours later, meanwhile Musima and Bamai were taken to the Presbyterian Hospital, Manyemen, all in a coma.

When The Post visited the victims at the hospital, none of them could speak. Moses Elondo, son of Paul Musima, said his father's head and brain had been damaged. He said he was quite sure his father would not survive.

Elondo said that from childhood, he has never known his father to be a wizard, nor has he discovered strange behaviours in him.

Arrival Of Gendarmes

Collins Itoe, another villager, told The Post that when the ECOMOG Boys were beating the suspects, mourners who had come from near and far to condole with Nasako's family fled.

Itoe said the mourners packed bunches of plantains, bags of water fufu, pots of half boiled rice, pigs and jugs of palm wine inside a vehicle and disappeared as a unit of gendarmes entered the village.

As the gendarmes entered the village, the villagers ran into the farms for safety. Some of them took cover in cocoa ovens and farmhouses.

The Post gathered that the gendarmes chased the villagers right into the forest and arrested many of them.

Itoe said some of them succeeded in bailing themselves with FCFA 50,000; meanwhile others have been taken to the Gendarmerie office in Kumba.

Chieftaincy Dispute

Most villagers who spoke to The Post said Kokaka has been divided into two camps for two years, since the death of their Chief, Michael Ekuke.

They said Ekuke's successor, John Adama, was also killed.

They said Aduma, the person who was to succeed Adama had been rejected by some villagers on the claim that he cannot bring development to Kokaka.

This situation, they said, has split the village into camps that kill each other. They said this state of affairs have thrown Kokaka into witchcraft compounded by illiteracy, theft and insubordination to administration.

DO Speaks

Bongwa Makebeh, the DO for Konye Sub-Division, told The Post that he has arrested many youths like Samuel Soaka, David Obase, Joseph Mokaba Itoe and Augustine Ngoe.

Bongwa explained that the "principal suspects," Chrisantus Mebuka and Sakwe Bolo are still on the run. He said the security forces are working hard to trace and arrest them.

Bongwa also told The Post that when Bamai was almost burnt in June, he had warned and cautioned the inhabitants of Kokaka not to mete out jungle justice on suspects. He said he told them to allow the administration to handle the matter.

Bongwa also said that he had intended to bring Bamai to justice, by charging him to court.

He, however, regretted that some politicians intervened while Bamai was at the Judicial Police awaiting trial and got him released.

The DO also regretted that the Kokaka population overreacted by killing a man and leaving two others in coma.

He said he is trying to restore calm in the village by getting all the suspects arrested. He said he is already arranging for consultative meetings with all the chiefs in Konye Sub-division and Kokaka inhabitants so that the chieftaincy dispute can be resolved and a new chief designated.

"I think with a leader, the villagers can be controlled, since the DO cannot rule the village from the Sub-divisional headquarters," Bongwa said.

Source
 
5/12/2004


Delusions of murder accused



Jury: will decide if ill man started fire

A MENTALLY ill man torched tragic nurse Angela Stanyer’s home because he believed she was a witch tormenting him, a jury heard yesterday.

Angel Sanjurjo, who suffers from paranoid delusions, is accused of starting the fire that claimed the life of Mrs Stanyer in Tilehurst nine months ago.

Mrs Stanyer, a nurse who had twice beaten cancer, helped her teenage daughter escape the inferno but was trapped herself.

Sanjurjo – who once worked with Mrs Stanyer and her husband Trevor at Mars in Slough – is too ill to stand trial.

However the jury at Reading Crown Court will have to decide if he was the arsonist.

He suffered burns on the same day of the fire in Ogmore Close and yesterday prosecutor John Price said he made “very strange and disturbing remarks” while he was being treated.

Detectives could find no rational grievance or motive but Mr Price said: “There is however a reason he should have wanted to do it, so submit the prosecution, albeit in his case an entirely irrational one.

“He spoke to [medical] staff of being hounded by a witch.

“He told them her name was Angie, he said he used to work with this witch, and of course they shared an employer for 10 years, and she had suffered from cancer.

“He said he was frightened of this lady and this witch and he strongly disliked her.

“At one stage he told staff, and I quote, she had tormented him for years ‘everywhere I go and she calls me a coward’.”

Mr Price added: “It should be emphasised that all the things he has said about her, all of them, it is quite clear from the evidence, are completely false and without foundation. But to him they were utterly true and real.”

Mrs Stanyer, 52, worked at Mars between 1978 and 1988 while Sanjurjo, 62, worked there between 1974 and 2002.

Her husband Trevor also worked there from 1979 until earlier this year.

The jury was told that while Mr Stanyer knew Sanjurjo was a colleague, he did not know him personally. Records at the confectionery company showed there were no disputes involving the three.

Sanjurjo, of Dee Road, was charged with murder and arson with intent to endanger life.

On Monday a jury decided he was too ill to stand trial. The second jury will not be deciding whether he is guilty or innocent of the criminal charges but whether he started the fire and if it claimed Mrs Stanyer’s life.

The trial continues.

Source
 
Cornwall "satanic murder" arest made...dont seem t

"A woman has appeared before magistrates in Truro charged with the murder of parish councillor Peter Solheim.
Margaret James from Porthoustock near St Keverne, is charged with murdering Mr Solheim with a person or persons unknown, and conspiracy to murder.

The 56 year old, who was Mr Solheim's long term partner, spoke only to confirm her name, age and address and was remanded in custody until 4 March"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4297007.stm



sme more here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3559278.stm


and "02 July 2004

The talk in the bars and restaurants of Mylor harbour in Cornwall normally revolves around nothing more sinister than fishing, weather and the state of the tides. Yesterday it was of black magic and murder."
http://pages.globetrotter.net/mleblank/ ... 004-1.html


soem might like to know progress onthis case... but i cant seem to find anythign useign serch optin, freeking thing just returns hundreds of "true crime" hits...the serch bit of the board is pants!..mods feel free to move it about.
 
Nine held in lynching case

BHUVANESHWAR PRASAD

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2005 02:18:11 AM ]

PURNIA: Superstition has taken its toll. But, whether it was a grisly witch-hunt or the tribal "mad woman" fell prey to remorseless mob fury remains somewhat clouded in mystery.

Purnia police have arrested nine persons on the charge of lynching a tribal woman, Sumitra Devi, in a dense Adivasi mohalla near Captain Bridge right in the midst of Purnia town on Monday, Purnia SP Sudhanshu Kumar said.

The SP believes that the tribal woman was real mad and fell a victim to mob fury.

Sadar police station officer-in-charge (OC) told TOI that all the nine persons have been rounded up on the charges of murder under Section 302 of the IPC.

The public perception is, however, entirely different. According to some inhabitants, Sumitra Devi was a real witch. She had allegedly exhumed the body of a minor girl exactly 12 days after she had been buried in the vicinity.

She was caught red-handed doing a macabre dance with the girl's decomposed corpse, who, she claimed, could be resuscitated to life. In point of fact, the superstitiously-blinded people insisted upon the "witch" to bring the dead girl to life through her supernatural prowess. And, when she failed to perform the most unnatural, the irate mob beat her mercilessly. She succumbed to merciless beating by the time she was taken to the sadar hospital.


It is stated that the grandpa of the deceased minor girl, who is the daughter of Hira Uraon, had died a month back.

At the time of "shradh" ceremony, the said tribal woman Sumitra Devi had taken the minor on her lap, hugged and kissed her repeatedly. The girl took ill soon after and died within 24 hours. The minor was buried nearby.

Everyone thought it was "kiss of death" by the weird woman.

On Monday, the "witch" exhumed her body and began to dance. A small crowd collected soon as the news spread like wild fire. She had again taken her on her lap. The tribals, still rocked in superstition, insisted upon her to bring the child back to life.

And, when the miracle did not take place, the woman had to suffer the comeuppance. She was dragged and beaten to death, it is learnt.


However, the tribals are unfazed and remorseless, say the neighbours.

Source
 
'Witches' lynched by angry mob

27apr05

A Tribal mob in northeastern India lynched and decapitated two women accused of practising witchcraft, threw their bodies into a river and paraded their heads as trophies, police said.

The mob dragged the 60-year-old Bodo tribal woman and her 30-year-old daughter from their village in Jarbari, 280 km west of Assam state's main city of Guwahati, and killed them.

"The attack was gruesome with the mob killing them and chopping off their heads and throwing the decapitated bodies in the river," a police official said.

Villagers believed the women "had cast evil spells," the police official said, and afterwards paraded the heads "as trophies."

Eight people have been arrested over the attack. Witchcraft is practised in various areas in India but is particularly popular in some parts of the remote northeast where it is used to treat ailments or cast spells on enemies.

Source
 
Man held after grandmother is hacked to death

April 29 2005 at 08:08PM

Limpopo police have arrested a 31-year-old man of Dan Village in Ritavi for allegedly hacking his grandmother to death with an axe.

"The man allegedly broke into the 71-year-old grandmother's house at about 6pm on Thursday and found her eating her soft porridge. He accused the woman of witchcraft, saying she had bewitched him," Captain Maano Sadiki said on Friday.

"He used the axe he was carrying and started chopping her into pieces. She died at the scene."

The man was arrested on Thursday, a few hours after the incident, and will appear in the Ritavi magistrate's court on a charge of murder.

Source
 
I stumbled across this looking for something else:

'Witches' killed in Bengal village

30 March, 2005 by mandeep

Superstitious villagers in a remote tea-growing region in West Bengal killed two elderly widows ....

Superstitious villagers in a remote tea-growing region in West Bengal killed two elderly widows after branding them witches.

The victims were targeted because they had completely white hair that the superstitious villagers took to be an ominous sign.

The women, both aged above 60, were hacked with sharp weapons by a group of men. The victims, whose bodies were recovered Monday, were held responsible for disease and death in Rangamati Tea Estate in the Dooars area of northern West Bengal.

Many tea gardens of the region have huge operating losses and workers go without pay for months. Many tea gardens have shut down in the past few years.

Disease and death are common among tea garden workers, most of whom are illiterate tribals that practise witch hunting, sorcery, necromancy and even human sacrifice.

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