/ 22 January 2002

ALLEGED WITCH BEATEN TO DEATH IN CAR

A WOMAN accused of being a witch was bludgeoned to death by the people of her Central African village after allegedly killing a man with sorcery, the national radio reported on Sunday. Another woman accused of being the alleged witch’s accomplice remains in critical condition after suffering the same fate, the radio station reported. The two women were arrested Saturday by police in the village of M’baiki, 105 kilometers south of Bangui. They were accused of casting a spell on a man and sending him into a state of deteriorating health. When the police car in which they were travelling broke down, the dying man’s relatives carried the women from the car to his bedside. When the man died, his relatives and other villagers attempted to beat the women to death, killing one and critically wounding the other, the radio station reported. Police have already arrested some of those involved in the beating, while others managed to escape, the radio said. Every year, several people are killed at the hands of citizens after being accused of sorcery. – AFP