Kayunga District, Uganda: two get 40 years in jail over ‘child sacrifice’

On November 13 I posted on this website a report on the notoriety of Kayunga District in Uganda when it comes to child sacrifices and ritualistic murders. In this posting I mentioned the case of Allan Ssembatya – then a six-year old small boy – who was cut with a machete and left fighting for his life in a forest. The offence was committed in Busolo Village, Kayunga District, in 2009. Luckily, Allan was found alive. Two men were arrested for attempted murder; recently they were sentenced to 40 years in prison. Both Allan Ssembatya and the the convicts, Awali Kivumbi and Paul Ngaswireki (see photo), were residents of Busolo in Kayunga Sub-county, Kayunga District.

Thirteen years after the incident took place justice was delivered. Hail to the Uganda judicial system! Nevertheless the foregoing, ‘prevention is better than cure’: all efforts should be made to prevent these crimes through proper education and the eradication of superstition.
(webmaster VDK)

Warning: some readers may find the following report disturbing.

Two get 40 years in jail over ‘child sacrifice’

Awali Kivumbi (left) and Oaul Ngaswireki (right) during the court hearing. PHOTO | FRED MUZAALE

Published: September 20, 2022
By: Fred Muzaale – Monitor, Uganda

Court has sentenced two men to 40 years imprisonment each after they were found guilty of attempting to behead a six-year-old boy for ritual sacrifice.

Chief Magistrate Sarah Tusiime yesterday sentenced Paul Ngaswireki and Awali Kivumbi, after evidence linked them to attempting to murder Allan Ssembatya who was cut with a panga (machete) and left fighting for his life in a forest. 

He was only discovered by his grandparents while in a coma.

“In light of the above evidence, submissions and the law, the prosecution has provided its case beyond a reasonable doubt that A1 and A2 are guilty of the offense of attempted murder of Ssembatya Allan contrary to Section 204 of the Penal Code Act,” held magistrate Tusiime.

The prosecution led by Mr Edward Muhumuza states that the offence was committed in 2009 in Busolo Village.

Ssembatya is now 19 years and in Senior One.

At the time of the incident, Ssembatya was six years old and in Primary Two at Busaale Church of Uganda Primary School, Kayunga. 

In her ruling, the magistrate held that the conduct of the two convicts before, during and after the commission of the act was wanting.

The magistrates explained that Kivumbi, had been a good neighbour and even visited Ssembatya’s family quite often in hospital.

“It makes one believe that the frequent visits by A2 (Kivumbi) were to monitor the health of the victim or to conceal their participation. Such conduct is enough to prove that indeed there was malice aforethought,” held Ms Tusiime.

The magistrate also observed that the body parts damaged were the neck, head, skull, shoulder and testis.

The victim and the convicts were all residents of Busolo in Kayunga Sub-county, Kayunga District.

The convict was in their first trial acquitted for lack of evidence. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) appealed, leading to yesterday’s verdict.

Present at court were the father of the victim and a number of anti-child sacrifice activists from Kyampisi Childcare Ministries, a non-governmental organisation.

The magistrate branded the case as purely one for “child sacrifice”.

Both convicts asked for lighter sentences.

“I have 12 children and two wives and I was their breadwinner. I now don’t know what my family is up to,” Kivumbi said.

Mr Peter Sewakiryanga, the executive director of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries, said he had relocated Ssembatya’s family for their safety.

“My belief is that now we have a precedence that, however long it takes to get justice, when there is will by the community, justice can be delivered,” Mr Sewakiryanga said.

Source: Two get 40 years in jail over ‘child sacrifice’

Uganda: why human sacrifices still thrive in Kayunga District

Many of my postings on this site refer to reported or suspected ritual murder cases in West Africa. However, this phenomenon dating from ancient times also exists in other regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Superstition and the greed for power, wealth or good health constitute the main driving forces behind the crimes of ritual murder, human sacrifice and/or ritual cannibalism.

In East Africa ritualistic murders are rife in Uganda. As mentioned below, according to the 2013 Child Sacrifice and Mutilations Report, one child is killed for rituals every week. A mind blowing statistic. Within Uganda the Kayunga District has earned the dubious reputation of being one of the most notorious killing places. Read the breath taking article below; the reader is warned as it contains graphic details.

Uganda is one of an increasing number of SSA countries where human sacrifice and ritualistic murders have become crimes which carry the death penalty. Many countries and international initiatives have outlawed the capital punishment, but several African countries take a different course, notably to contain and/or eradicate ritual murders. The big question is whether the death penalty, which is not always executed, will bring us closer to a society where people no longer fear falling victim to ritual killers. Or should we look for another approach the eradicate this scourge of ignorance and superstition?

PS For an interesting plea to abolish the death penalty the reader is invited to read the following article: ‘Death of Death Penalty in Ghana‘ or click here.
(webmaster FVDK)

Why human sacrifices still thrive in Kayunga

A suspect digs up a place where he claimed to have buried a child in Kayunga District last year. PHOTO/FRED MUZAALE

Published: November 11, 2022
By: Fred Muzaale – Monitor, Uganda

What you need to know:

  • Police say most victims of human sacrifices are children because they are easier to abduct and seen as “pure” and of “higher ritual value.”
  • Last year, President Museveni passed the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Bill 2021, which criminalises the act of human sacrifice.

————————————————————————————————————–

On a hot Monday afternoon at Kayunga Court premises in Kayunga District, Allan Ssembatya walks with his head lowered. 

Visibly not in a good mood, he is in the company of a man and a woman. The two grown-ups are his mother and father.

The 19-year-old Ssembatya’s forehead bares a big scar that he sustained after he was cut with a machete by two men during an attempted ritual murder incident in 2009. He was by then 6 years old.
Fortunately, Ssembatya, now in Senior One, survived, but lost both of his testicles. Because of the cut inflicted on his head, he now has persistent headaches and nightmares.

A resident of Busolo Village in Kayunga Sub-county, Ssembatya spent one month in a coma after the incident.

“Doctors who examined him after the attack said he would not be able to bear children. This is purely a case of human sacrifice,” Ms Sarah Tumusiime, the Kayunga Chief Magistrate, revealed during a court session last month.

She sentenced the convicts; Paul Ngaswireki and Awali Kivumbi, both residents of Busolo Village, who were found guilty of committing the offence, to 40 years each in prison.

According to Ssembatya’s father, his son was attacked by the two men when he had gone to the garden to harvest a jackfruit. He was later left fighting for his life in a forest.

Ssembatya’s case is the latest among such incidents, but Kayunga District has had numerous human sacrifice-related incidents.

In March 2020, a 60-year-old man in Kakoola Village, Kitimbwa Sub-county, was beheaded and his head taken by unknown assailants.

The torso was later recovered from a bush. Two witch doctors were arrested in connection with this incident although the whereabouts of the human skull is still unknown.

Additionally, a traditional healer in Kisoga Village, Nazigo Sub-county, was arrested in 2018 after five bodies were found buried in his shrine. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by Mukono High Court.

Last year, a father in Bbaale Sub-county was arrested after he allegedly killed two of his children over ritual sacrifice. He confessed to the act claiming he was promised Shs2m.

Ms Beatrice Ajwang, the Kayunga District officer-in-charge of the Criminal Investigations Department, said most of the suspects arrested in connection with such acts are “traditional healers and people who want to get rich quickly”.

Ms Ajwang said most victims of human sacrifices are children, apparently because they are easier to abduct and seen as “pure” and of “higher ritual value.”

Without disclosing statistical figures of how many cases of human sacrifice had been recorded in the district, Ms Ajwang confirms that “Kayunga is a hotbed of ritual sacrifice”.

She said out of more than 300 traditional healers operating in the district, their preliminary investigations reveal that half of the number are quacks.

“Kayunga is a unique area, you will find many households having shrines on top of being multi-ethnic. This could be a major contributor to these acts,” Kayunga chairperson Andrew Muwonge said.

Ms Ajwang said despite enacting laws to crack down on those engaging in human sacrifices, the practice has continued.

The law
Last year, President Museveni passed  the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Bill 2021, which criminalises the act of human sacrifice.

The legislation was moved as a private member’s Bill by former Ayivu County legislator Bernard Atiku with the intent of addressing the growing vice of human sacrifice.

According to the new law, any person who mutilates or causes the death of another person for the purpose of performing or furthering a ritual commits an offence and will be punished by the death penalty upon conviction.

“Worse still, it is a big challenge investigating human sacrifice cases because on some occasions it is carried out by parents themselves on their children while in some other cases people are not willing to give information that could be of help to arrest and prosecute offenders,” Ms Ajwanga said, adding: “We appeal to religious leaders to help us instill morals in our people. As police, we have tried to sensitise them against this vice.’’

Ms Sylvia Namutebi, aka Maama Fiina, the national chairperson of Uganda Traditional Healer’s Association, dismisses claims that the acts are committed by people who practice her trade.

“No genuine traditional healer can sacrifice a human being. These are masqueraders hiding in our job. It is our duty to ensure we [genuine healers] weed out such bad people,” Ms Namutebi said.

She said with the help of genuine healers, they have arrested and prosecuted such ‘wrong elements’, noting that she is on a country-wide tour to sensitise traditional healers on professional ethics.

Mr Peter Mawerere, the Kayunga deputy Resident District Commissioner, blamed the vice on ignorance, greed, and poverty. He noted that many people sacrifice human beings because they think it will make them wealthier.

“It is surprising that many people go to traditional healers when they fall sick, even when their ailments can be treated by qualified medical personnel,” he said.

“We have tasked the leadership of traditional healers to fight the acts, which we highly believe are perpetuated by some of their members,” he added.

Rev Fr Maurice Kigoye, the parish priest of Kangulumira Parish in Kangulumira Sub-county,  said: “It [human sacrifice] is really an inhuman act. How can you think that when you kill a person and drink their blood, you can get rich? As religious leaders, we have tried to lure them [culprits] to turn to God and get saved,” Fr Kigoye said.

NGO role
Mr Peter Sewakiryanga, the executive director of Kyampisi Child Care Ministries (KCM), said his organisation receives a number of human sacrifice cases from Kayunga District every month.

“We work with probation officers, police, and other agencies who bring to our attention such cases,” he said.

Mr Sewakiryanga added that in a bid to ensure the culprits are arrested and prosecuted, his organisation facilitates investigations carried out by police officers.

“Many such cases die at the investigation stage, but with our support, a number of the suspects have been prosecuted and convicted like the recent one of Ssembatya. Court sentenced the convicts to 40 years each in jail,” he said.

He explains that KCM also offers treatment, counselling, and psychosocial support to survivors of ritual sacrifice.

“We have in some cases relocated families of the victims for their safety, built them houses and offered education to survivors,” Mr Sewakiryanga said.

2013 report

According to the 2013 Child Sacrifice and Mutilations Report, one child is killed for rituals every week.

The report indicates that people carry out human sacrifices to seek wealth, among others. 

Source: Why human sacrifices still thrive in Kayunga

Uganda’s fight against the evil ‘medicine men’ who remove children’s limbs and organs for human sacrifice

In the villages of Uganda a new breed of witch doctors is hunting and kidnapping children to cut off their ears, noses and genitals. Often the witch doctors decapitate the boys or remove whole arms and legs of victims. Witch doctor Kivumbi Awali is pictured after his arrest

Published: June 24, 2019 
By: Stephen Gibbs – for Daily Mail Australia

  • Ritual killing of children by witch doctors takes place in Uganda, in East Africa
  • Body parts, blood or tissue are removed from boys and girls while they are alive
  • Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga saves mutilated victims and hunts the witch doctors
  • His work is partly funded by generous donations from a small Australian charity  

In the villages of Uganda a new breed of witch doctor is hunting and kidnapping children to cut off their ears, noses and genitals. 

Sometimes the medicine men remove whole arms and legs or drain blood from a boy or girl’s body while the victim is still alive. 

Sometimes the victim’s parents help decapitate their child.

Human sacrifice is not some ancient cultural ritual practised in this east African country, rather it is a barbaric modern way for cruel charlatans to make money.

Children in rural Uganda are kidnapped by witch doctors who torture and often murder them as part of a supposed spiritual sacrifice. 

The witch doctors mutilate the children and use their blood, tissue or organs in rituals they promise can bring clients protection, prosperity and good health. 

Child sacrifice survivor Allan Ssembatya was set upon in a Ugandan village called Busolo in 2009. ‘My son was coming home from school,’ his father says.  ‘They took him to the bush. They cut him. This cut on his head, this cut on his neck, damage to his private parts…’

In one of the most macabre practices to have developed, children are decapitated and their heads buried in new building foundations to bring success to businesses.

Fighting this terrible trade is pastor Peter Sewakiryanga who saves children scarred by ritual mutilation, and helping him is a small group of Australians.

Pastor Peter, a former accountant, started campaigning against child sacrifice about a decade ago and runs charity Kyampisi Childcare Ministries.

He helps rehabilitate survivors and raise awareness of the practice, working with politicians, police, prosecutors and judges to bring offenders to justice. 

Pastor Peter’s work features in an episode of the SBS program Dateline called How to Catch a Witch Doctor to air on Tuesday night. 

The program follows Pastor Peter and Brisbane civil engineer Rodney Callanan as they hunt for a witch doctor who allegedly almost killed six-year-old Allan Ssembatya ten years ago. 

Reporter Amos Roberts speaks to Allan’s father Hudson Semwanga about what happened to his boy in a village called Busolo in the district of Kayunga on October 21, 2009.

Justice Margaret Mutonyi is pictured with a girl whose hands have been cut off. ‘We have a society that believes in witchcraft,’ she tells the SBS program Dateline. ‘The majority of the population including Christians who go to church, they consult these witch doctors’
Robert Mukwaya suffered spinal injuries so serious it was thought he would never walk again. He had been snoozing in his grandmother’s kitchen in a village near Lake Victoria when a man dragged him out of the room and stabbed him in the neck. He underwent surgery in Australia

‘My son was coming home from school,’ Mr Semwanga says. ‘They took him to the bush. They cut him.

‘This cut on his head, this cut on his neck, damage to his private parts, in my view it’s very surprising that Allan is alive. 

‘What hurts me the most is that they were people that knew me really well, I grew up with them, I went to school with them. We used to treat each other as family.’ 

One of the two men accused of kidnapping and cutting up Allan is witch doctor Kivumbi Awali, who was secretly filmed by a BBC crew in 2011.

The crew posed as members of a construction company looking for a witch doctor who could bring their business prosperity. 

They were introduced to Awali, who killed a goat for good luck at their first meeting, then a few days later explained what he said was his most powerful spell: human sacrifice. 

Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga holding Hope, a young victim of child sacrifice. ‘They prey on the desperation of the people who are sick and are poor,’ Pastor Peter told Daily Mail Australia. ‘Even the elite who live in the city and are rich are now engaged’
Rodney Callanan, from the Brisbane charity Droplets In A Stream, helps fund the pursuit of Ugandan witch doctors who have not been brought to justice. ‘Unfortunately, the police, the courts in Uganda are grossly underfunded,’ Mr Callanan tells Dateline 

‘There are two ways of doing this,’ Awali was recorded telling the bogus businessmen. ‘We can bury the child alive on your construction site.’

‘Or we cut the child, and put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine. If it’s a male, the whole head is cut off, and his genitals.’

When Awali was finally arrested by police in the company of Pastor Peter and Mr Callanan he had a machete in his custody. As he was led away he complained his handcuffs were too tight.

Awali was charged with attempted murder and aggravated trafficking. 

His case is still before the courts and if convicted he could face a death sentence or life in jail. 

Allan is one of five child victims of human sacrifice Pastor Peter has helped bring to Australia for life-changing surgery. 

‘Sometimes it’s difficult to talk about what happened to me,’ the now 16-year-old tells Dateline. ‘And sometimes when I talk about it I start crying.

‘I remember the injuries I got, I remember when I was taken, I tried to struggle to run, they hit me up and they did whatever they wanted. So when I think about it I cry.’ 

Pastor Peter is supported by a Brisbane-based charity called Droplets In A Stream which provides education and health care opportunities to victims of child sacrifice who survive.

A witch doctor advertises his work outside his house in Kampala, the Ugandan capital. ‘A traditional healer with powers over spirits solves all cases, demons, thieves, tooth decay, madness, fevers, appelipse, genital affairs’. 

Doctors at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital and Brisbane’s Mater Children’s Private Hospital have operated on rescued children free of charge. 

‘Australia has been so kind,’ Pastor Peter said. ‘These children would otherwise be dead.’

Witch doctors practising child sacrifice are motivated solely by money but pretend to be adhering to cultural beliefs to justify their crimes.

‘They prey on the desperation of the people who are sick and are poor,’ Pastor Peter told Daily Mail Australia. ‘Even the elite who live in the city and are rich are now engaged.

‘The problem is a national issue. It started in poor pockets of the community. Now it’s widespread. 

‘It has crossed boundaries into families killing their own children.’ 

The extent of this trade is hard to judge but Pastor Peter says he works with between 20 and 25 cases each year.

‘The issue is done under such secrecy it’s hard to estimate numbers. I can trace it to ten to 15 years ago.’ 

Balluonzima Christ (left) and Rose Ajiba (right) hold a photograph of their daughter Caroline Aya, who was allegedly killed in a sacrificial ceremony in the town of Jinja in southern Uganda 

‘It’s not part of our culture. It hides in our culture. It must be condemned.’

Droplets In A Stream, which Mr Callanan co-founded, also helps fund the pursuit of witch doctors who have not been brought to justice.  

‘Unfortunately, the police, the courts in Uganda are grossly underfunded,’ Mr Callanan tells Dateline.

‘Many cases actually don’t go to court or to trial because of lack of funding. And that’s one of our biggest roles in this area and that’s financial support.’

Judge Margaret Mutonyi tells the program: ‘We have a society that believes in witchcraft.’

‘The majority of the population including Christians who go to church, they consult these witch doctors.’

Paul Odida, a repentant witch doctor, now helps Pastor Paul raise awareness of the issue of human sacrifice. He visits villages to explain how the witch doctors instill fear in communities

In one scene Pastor Peter examines photographs of a boy approximately ten years old whose body was found dumped in the bush. 

‘So they cut off the ears, they cut through the neck and cut out the throat and cut off the limbs,’ he says. ‘Body parts were missing. The tongue, the legs, the genitals.’ 

The program also features Robert Mukwaya who in 2014 suffered spinal injuries so serious it was thought he would never walk again. 

Robert had been snoozing in his grandmother’s kitchen in a village near Lake Victoria when a man dragged him out of the room and stabbed him in the neck. 

He was left paralysed but surgery at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital two years ago has allowed him to regain the use of his legs.  

In another scene Pastor Peter and Mr Callanan visit a village to warn about the practice of child sacrifice.  

‘Why we are here is we heard of a story of a child who was sacrificed here and unfortunately the people that kill these children are among us,’ Pastor Peter says.

‘Please, if you know who killed our child, just come and tell us, call the number, we will even put a reward. Please don’t fear. If you fear, next time it will be your child.’

How To Catch A Witch Doctor airs on Dateline on Tuesday, June 25 at 9.30pm on SBS. It can be watched later on SBS On Demand.

Allan Ssembatya (left) with father Hudson and Pastor Peter (right) after learning of one of his alleged attackers, Kivumbi Awali, has been arrested

Source: How to catch a witch doctor: Uganda’s fight against the evil ‘medicine men’ who remove children’s limbs and organs for human sacrifice – and the Australian charity helping bring them to justice

Related article: Pastor receives funding boost for iconic rehab centre for child sacrifice survivors
Published: June 24, 2019
By: Aaron Sseruyigo   

Executive director of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries in Mukono, Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga (M) receives a financial boost for his efforts to end Child sacrifice in Uganda during The Entrepreneurial Business School (EBS) Gala Charity Awards Dinner in Australia (Courtesy Photo)

Pastor receives funding boost for iconic rehab centre for child sacrifice survivors

Together, we will end child sacrifice, Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga says.

Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga who runs Kyampisi Childcare Ministries, a Christian charity seeking to stamp out child sacrifice in Uganda, has received a cash donation of $134,225 (approximately Ush491 million) for a rehabilitation centre expected to be a safe place for children who have been victims of child sacrifice and trafficking.

Pastor Peter received the funds from the Bruce Campbell Entrepreneurial Business School whose founder and Principal Business Coach, Mr Bruce Campbell, has been extensively awarded for his work through various international bodies.  

This happened in Australia over the weekend.

“We are humbled by the incredible continuous support of the Bruce Campbell Entrepreneurial Business School,” Kyampisi Childcare Ministries said in an update on Sunday.

“Thank you for this generosity, partnering with us in our efforts to build a new Trauma Rehabilitation Centre for kids abused through Child sacrifice and trafficking. What a community full of love and compassion. Together we will End Child Sacrifice,” they added.

Pastor Peter takes care of several child survivors of trafficking and human sacrifice and has built an extensive network linking communities and security to track suspected cases. 

In his remarks earlier in March, Mr Bruce Campbell said, “This will be the largest rehab centre of its kind in Uganda (& maybe Africa). So honored to be a board member and help guiding this life changing organisation.”

The organisation, Kyampisi Childcare Ministries (KCM) condemns witch doctors’ brutal ritual of child sacrifice, and has brought to books several culprits this year in the capital of Kampala alone.

In his recent interview with local media, Pastor Peter explained that victims of child sacrifice in Uganda carry with them serious and disturbing life scars and injuries which include complete genital mutilations, castration, deep stab wounds, missing tongues, ears, as well as emotional and psychological scars that need life time healing.

Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga (Courtesy Photo)

Working each day to bring Christ’s hope and healing to these children, Sewakiryanga’s devotion to the cause in 2017 attracted The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) who during an interview with the preacher, joined undercover detectives and armed police in a hunt for witch doctors accused of kidnapping and killing children.

“When they get the child, most times they cut the neck, they take the blood out, they take the tissue, they cut the genitals or any other body organs that they wish that the spirits want.” Pr Sewakiryanga said.

Child body parts are especially prized in rituals because people believe mixing their blood with herbs makes a strong concoction that can cure diseases and appease local spirits. Genitalia are especially prized.

“The problem is increasing and many children are killed, and there are very few actually that survive, most of them die.” Pr Sewakiryanga added.

According to CBN News, Kyampisi Childcare Ministries is the only organization in the country providing long-term financial and medical care to survivors of child sacrifice.

“We want to see that the life of a child who has survived is supported, that they are socially able to stand and heal from the injuries, and that they can have a life after that,” said Pastor Sewakiryanga.

He also works with Ugandan lawmakers to help draft specific laws targeting perpetrators of child sacrifice.

In 2018, Pastor Peter was one of two Ugandan activists recognised by The European Union (EU) for their tireless campaign to stop child trafficking.

He was credited for championing research and spearheading an awareness campaign in communities to stop the crime. 

Australians help hunt witch doctors who kill Ugandan children in barbaric human sacrifice

Published: June 30, 2019
By: Brinkwire

In the villages of Uganda a new breed of witch doctor is hunting and kidnapping children to cut off their ears, noses and genitals. 

Sometimes the medicine men remove whole arms and legs or drain blood from a boy or girl’s body while the victim is still alive. 

Sometimes the victim’s parents help decapitate their child.

Human sacrifice is not some ancient cultural ritual practised in this east African country, rather it is a barbaric modern way for cruel charlatans to make money.

Children in rural Uganda are kidnapped by witch doctors who torture and often murder them as part of a supposed spiritual sacrifice. 

The witch doctors mutilate the children and use their blood, tissue or organs in rituals they promise can bring clients protection, prosperity and good health. 

In one of the most macabre practices to have developed, children are decapitated and their heads buried in new building foundations to bring success to businesses.

Fighting this terrible trade is pastor Peter Sewakiryanga who saves children scarred by ritual mutilation, and helping him is a small group of Australians.

Pastor Peter, a former accountant, started campaigning against child sacrifice about a decade ago and runs charity Kyampisi Childcare Ministries.

He helps rehabilitate survivors and raise awareness of the practice, working with politicians, police, prosecutors and judges to bring offenders to justice. 

Pastor Peter’s work features in an episode of the SBS program Dateline called How to Catch a Witch Doctor to air on Tuesday night. 

The program follows Pastor Peter and Brisbane civil engineer Rodney Callanan as they hunt for a witch doctor who allegedly almost killed six-year-old Allan Ssembatya ten years ago. 

Reporter Amos Roberts speaks to Allan’s father Hudson Semwanga about what happened to his boy in a village called Busolo in the district of Kayunga on October 21, 2009.

‘My son was coming home from school,’ Mr Semwanga says. ‘They took him to the bush. They cut him.

‘This cut on his head, this cut on his neck, damage to his private parts, in my view it’s very surprising that Allan is alive. 

‘What hurts me the most is that they were people that knew me really well, I grew up with them, I went to school with them. We used to treat each other as family.’ 

One of the two men accused of kidnapping and cutting up Allan is witch doctor Kivumbi Awali, who was secretly filmed by a BBC crew in 2011.

The crew posed as members of a construction company looking for a witch doctor who could bring their business prosperity. 

They were introduced to Awali, who killed a goat for good luck at their first meeting, then a few days later explained what he said was his most powerful spell: human sacrifice. 

‘There are two ways of doing this,’ Awali was recorded telling the bogus businessmen. ‘We can bury the child alive on your construction site.’

‘Or we cut the child, and put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine. If it’s a male, the whole head is cut off, and his genitals.’

When Awali was finally arrested by police in the company of Pastor Peter and Mr Callanan he had a machete in his custody. As he was led away he complained his handcuffs were too tight.

Awali was charged with attempted murder and aggravated trafficking. 

His case is still before the courts and if convicted he could face a death sentence or life in jail. 

Allan is one of five child victims of human sacrifice Pastor Peter has helped bring to Australia for life-changing surgery. 

‘Sometimes it’s difficult to talk about what happened to me,’ the now 16-year-old tells Dateline. ‘And sometimes when I talk about it I start crying.

‘I remember the injuries I got, I remember when I was taken, I tried to struggle to run, they hit me up and they did whatever they wanted. So when I think about it I cry.’ 

Pastor Peter is supported by a Brisbane-based charity called Droplets In A Stream which provides education and health care opportunities to victims of child sacrifice who survive.

Doctors at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital and Brisbane’s Mater Children’s Private Hospital have operated on rescued children free of charge. 

‘Australia has been so kind,’ Pastor Peter said. ‘These children would otherwise be dead.’

Witch doctors practising child sacrifice are motivated solely by money but pretend to be adhering to cultural beliefs to justify their crimes.

‘They prey on the desperation of the people who are sick and are poor,’ Pastor Peter told Daily Mail Australia. ‘Even the elite who live in the city and are rich are now engaged.

‘The problem is a national issue. It started in poor pockets of the community. Now it’s widespread. 

‘It has crossed boundaries into families killing their own children.’ 

The extent of this trade is hard to judge but Pastor Peter says he works with between 20 and 25 cases each year.

‘The issue is done under such secrecy it’s hard to estimate numbers. I can trace it to ten to 15 years ago.’ 

‘It’s not part of our culture. It hides in our culture. It must be condemned.’

Droplets In A Stream, which Mr Callanan co-founded, also helps fund the pursuit of witch doctors who have not been brought to justice.  

‘Unfortunately, the police, the courts in Uganda are grossly underfunded,’ Mr Callanan tells Dateline.

‘Many cases actually don’t go to court or to trial because of lack of funding. And that’s one of our biggest roles in this area and that’s financial support.’

Judge Margaret Mutonyi tells the program: ‘We have a society that believes in witchcraft.’

‘The majority of the population including Christians who go to church, they consult these witch doctors.’

In one scene Pastor Peter examines photographs of a boy approximately ten years old whose body was found dumped in the bush. 

‘So they cut off the ears, they cut through the neck and cut out the throat and cut off the limbs,’ he says. ‘Body parts were missing. The tongue, the legs, the genitals.’ 

The program also features Robert Mukwaya who in 2014 suffered spinal injuries so serious it was thought he would never walk again. 

Robert had been snoozing in his grandmother’s kitchen in a village near Lake Victoria when a man dragged him out of the room and stabbed him in the neck. 

He was left paralysed but surgery at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital two years ago has allowed him to regain the use of his legs.  

In another scene Pastor Peter and Mr Callanan visit a village to warn about the practice of child sacrifice.  

‘Why we are here is we heard of a story of a child who was sacrificed here and unfortunately the people that kill these children are among us,’ Pastor Peter says.

‘Please, if you know who killed our child, just come and tell us, call the number, we will even put a reward. Please don’t fear. If you fear, next time it will be your child.’

How To Catch A Witch Doctor airs on Dateline on Tuesday, June 25 at 9.30pm on SBS. It can be watched later on SBS On Demand.

Source: Australians help hunt witch doctors who kill Ugandan children in barbaric human sacrifice