Twenty-five years after Aidan Minter made his shocking discovery, the case has been revisited in a new documentary, The Body in the River, which aired on Channel 5 (article included below).
The murder mystery was never solved. The boy’s identity remains unknown, the perpetrator(s) got away with their heinous crime.
I present the following article published by MyLondon.new for reasons of completeness though it contains little additional news compared to my previous posts.
It is followed by a Daily Mail article on the recently released documentary ‘Boy in the Thames Case’, available on Channel 5.
However, this also contains few new facts. Hence, the mystery remains. (webmaster FVD)
‘I saw a decapitated boy dumped in River Thames – one thing left me in utter disbelief’
Published: March 13, 2026 By: Daniel Windham – MyLondon
Aidan Minter
Aidan Minter says he will never forget the day he saw a headless boy’s body floating in the River Thames, a horrific discovery that has remained unsolved for more than two decades.
A man who discovered the mutilated body of a young boy in the River Thames has described the moment he realised what he was looking at as one of the most horrifying experiences of his life.
More than two decades after the shocking discovery, the case has been revisited in a new documentary, The Body in the River, which aired on Channel 5. Despite years of investigation, the child’s killer has never been brought to justice.
The victim — later named “Adam” by police — is believed to have been between four and seven years old and originally from Africa. Investigators concluded he had been trafficked into the UK before being brutally murdered in what experts believe was a ritual killing.
The grim discovery was made on September 21, 2001, when IT consultant Aidan Minter was crossing Tower Bridge and noticed something unusual drifting through the water below.
At first, he thought the object might be a shop mannequin with a piece of red cloth attached. But as it passed beneath the bridge, the horrifying truth became clear — it was the torso of a child.
Handout photo issued by ITV London Tonight of a child, named Adam by police(Image: PA)
Recalling the moment years later, Minter said the injuries immediately shocked him.
He told the programme: “So when I saw the the body as it floated under, I remember thinking that the amount of damage that have been done to it was just incredible. I was just in utter disbelief.
“It’s quite alarming when you see it up close because I was only about 30 ft away from me at the time. And the incoming tide was quite fast but it was long enough to see all of that detail.
“All of the injuries that had been inflicted on that. I’ve never seen anything like that before. And. I’ll never forget it. But it is probably one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Police recovered the body further upstream near Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre later that day.
Forensic analysis revealed the boy had died after his throat was cut. His arms, legs and head had all been deliberately removed, and those body parts have never been found.
Investigators also discovered he had been fed a strange mixture shortly before his death. Tests showed it contained African river clay, ground bone, vegetation and traces of gold and quartz. He had also been given small amounts of Calabar bean — a toxic plant known as the “doomsday bean” — which can cause paralysis while leaving a victim conscious.
Houses of Parliament, Thames River and Westminster Bridge in London(Image: Getty Images)
Experts concluded the killing was likely ritualistic, possibly linked to a distorted form of spiritual practices sometimes associated with “muti” killings or certain West African belief systems.
The case sparked international attention, prompting an appeal from former South African president Nelson Mandela.
He said: “The boy comes from somewhere in Africa, so if anywhere, even in the remotest village of our continent, there is a family missing a son of that age who might have disappeared around that time please contact the police.”
Despite a number of arrests over the years, no one has ever been charged with Adam’s murder.
Former Metropolitan Police commander Andy Baker, who worked on the investigation, believes crucial evidence still exists somewhere in London.
He said: “When you think what that child went through, someone out there knows what happened. Whether that’s the murderer himself or those involved in the murder. There must be a crime scene somewhere. And it’s in London.
“There must be a place where Adam was laid upside down, tilted, head down, and then brutally dismembered and had his throat cut in such a violent way.
Andy Baker of Metropolitan Police(Image: Channel 5)
“There will still be traces of blood at that premises, so even now I’d appeal to anyone who knows anything. If they know where it is, we can go and get that forensic evidence. And then it starts again.”
Over the years, detectives uncovered evidence linking the boy to Nigeria. Pollen samples and scientific analysis suggested he had lived near Benin City before being brought to Europe.
A woman named Joyce Osagiede later admitted she had cared for the boy in Hamburg, Germany, where she purchased the distinctive orange shorts he was wearing when his body was found. However, investigators were unable to gather enough evidence to charge her or anyone else.
Multiple theories emerged, including the possibility that the child — whose real name may have been Ikpomwosa or Patrick Erhabor — had been trafficked before his death.
In 2006, Adam was buried in an unmarked grave in London.
Today, the case remains one of the most disturbing unsolved murders in British criminal history. For those who worked on it — and for the man who first spotted the body — the lack of answers still weighs heavily.
Detective Nick Chalmers, who was part of the investigation, said: “This was an innocent young child. There are people responsible for his death who haven’t been brought to justice. Twenty years on, I wish we knew the identity of Adam – and his parents. In reality, he is a missing child from a family, who probably don’t know he’s buried here in London.”
‘The Body In The Thames’ is available to watch and stream on Channel 5
The longest unsolved child murder case in modern UK history could still be answered because ‘someone out there knows what happened’, a retired detective has said.
‘Adam’ was a name given by Scotland Yard to a young boy whose dismembered body was discovered floating in the River Thames in London on September 21, 2001.
The child’s identity remains unknown 25 years later with no one ever charged despite an investigation that took police to South Africa, Holland, Germany and Nigeria.
Adam, who is thought to have been a Nigerian boy aged five or six, is believed to have been trafficked to the UK via Germany then murdered in a ritualistic killing.
His body, which had the head and limbs severed, was discovered near the Globe Theatre and numerous high-profile appeals followed, including by then President of South Africa Nelson Mandela.
Now, a new Channel 5 documentary called ‘The Body in The River’ which aired last night has re-examined the heartbreaking and disturbing story of Adam.
Despite a series of people being arrested, there has never been a charge over his murder – but police still believe the evidence they need is somewhere in London.
Andy Baker, a former Metropolitan Police commander who worked on the investigation, has told the programme that the case could still be solved.
The spot near the Globe Theatre where the boy’s torso was found in the River Thames in 2001A photo was released in 2011 claiming to be Adam – but this claim was withdrawn a year laterA police officer shows a pair of shorts found on Adam when his torso was discovered in 2001
He said: ‘When you think what that child went through, someone out there knows what happened. Whether that’s the murderer himself or those involved in the murder. There must be a crime scene somewhere. And it’s in London.
‘There must be a place where Adam was laid upside down, tilted, head down, and then brutally dismembered and had his throat cut in such a violent way.
‘There will still be traces of blood at that premises, so even now I’d appeal to anyone who knows anything. If they know where it is, we can go and get that forensic evidence. And then it starts again.’
The boy’s body was discovered by a passing businessman called Aidan Minter who spotted it while walking across Tower Bridge just ten days after the 9/11 attacks.
He initially thought it was a tailor’s mannequin, but realised it was a child’s dismembered and decapitated torso – and police pulled this from the water.
Investigations found the black boy could have been in the water for up to ten days after having his throat slit. His arms, legs and head were all amputated.
Police had few clues on his identity, other than a pair of orange shorts he was wearing – but appealed to the public for help, including on Crimewatch.
Some 60 people called the BBC show in an attempt to help and detectives offered a reward of £50,000 for information that led to a murder conviction.
Police also took specialist pathologist advice from as far afield as Africa and carried out groundbreaking work on DNA and pollen samples inside the body.
Officers established that the boy had been drugged with a ‘black magic’ potion and sacrificed in a voodoo-style ritual killing before being thrown into the Thames.
They used pioneering techniques to trace radioactive isotopes in his bones to his native Nigeria – and even asked Mandela to appeal for information, which he did.
But they always struggled to identify the boy, despite travelling to Nigeria to try to trace his family. Detailed analysis of a substance in the boy’s stomach was identified as a potion which included tiny clay pellets containing small particles of pure gold.
Andy Baker, a former Metropolitan Police commander who worked on the Adam investigation, has told a new Channel 5 documentary that the case could still be solved 25 years laterA graphic prepared by Scotland Yard detectives investigating the murder of Adam in 2001ITV News tracked down Joyce Osagiede in Nigeria in 2011, and she said Adam was the boy in the photo – and his real name was Ikpomwosa, although withdrew this claim one year later
This indicated that Adam had suffered a Muti ritual killing, when a victim’s body parts are removed and used by witchdoctors as ‘medicine’ based on a belief that the body parts of children are sacred. The bodies are then often disposed of in flowing water.
Another theory was he was a human sacrifice linked to Yoruban beliefs in Nigeria, in an offering to the goddess Oshun – typically associated with water and fertility.
Police had a breakthrough in July 2002 when social workers in Glasgow were alerted to the safety of two girls living with their African mother Joyce Osagiede.
She had ritualistic objects in her home and spoke about cults, killings and of sacrifices during a family court hearing – which led to police searching her property.
Detectives found clothes with the ‘Kids & Company’ label – the same one as on Adam’s shorts – and in the same sizes as his clothing. Osagiede was then arrested.
Officers never charged her, but by December that year police had determined his birthplace to a strip of land around Benin City in Nigeria – Osagiede’s home city.
German police discovered she had lived in Hamburg until late 2001 – the city where the orange shorts found on Adam’s body were believed to have been purchased.
Osagiede was eventually deported after the Home Office rejected her asylum application but disappeared after arriving in Lagos on a chartered private jet.
Officers found she had a contact in her phone for a man called Mousa Kamara, and discovered evidence of Nigerian rituals known as Juju at his London home.
Kamara, whose real name turned out to be Kingsley Ojo, was arrested but released on bail because there was no evidence directly linking him to Adam’s murder.
Police did however charge Ojo with people smuggling and using fake documents to obtain a passport and driving licence. He pleaded guilty and was jailed for four years.
Kingsley Ojo was arrested but released on bail because there was no evidence directly linking him to Adam’s murder. Police did however charge Ojo with other offences and he was jailedDetective Inspector Will O’Reilly and John Azah lay a wreath on the Thames for Adam in 2002
While in prison, Ojo contacted police and said he wanted to help track down the killer, feeding them information for two years following his release. But officers eventually determined they could not rely on him, and he was deported back to Nigeria in 2008.
By 2011, another lead came when police searched through Osagiede’s belongings left with a friend in Germany and found a photo of a boy aged about five taken in 2001.
ITV News tracked down Osagiede in Nigeria, and she claimed Adam was the boy in the photo – and his real name was Ikpomwosa. She said she looked after him then gave him to a man called Bawa. But detectives could not positively identify the boy.
One year later, Osagiede’s brother Victor contacted BBC News and said the boy in the photo was in fact not Adam or ‘Ikpomwosa’. A reporter travelled to Benin City and found Osagiede, but she appeared confused and gave two other names for Adam.
Osagiede also identified someone in photo as ‘Bawa’ – which was actually a picture of Ojo. The BBC then tracked down Ojo in Nigeria but he continued to deny involvement in Adam’s murder and no evidence has ever linked him to the crime.
Since 2013 the investigation has become a ‘cold case’ with no significant new lines of enquiry – and Victor confirmed in 2020 that Osagiede had died in Nigeria.
Police launched an appeal on the 20th anniversary, with Detective Chief Inspector Kate Kieran saying the case remaining unsolved was ‘incredibly sad and frustrating’.
Speaking in 2021, she added: ‘We recognise people may not have wanted to speak up at the time and may have felt loyal to the person or people involved in this.
‘However, over the past 20 years, allegiances and relationships may have changed and some people may now feel more comfortable talking to us.’
The case has remained unsolved since then, but Scotland Yard will be hoping that the documentary could change this. The Daily Mail has contacted the force for comment.
‘The Body In The Thames’ is available to watch and stream on Channel 5
Superstition is the common denominator of both ritual murder and belief in witchcraft. Both phenomena are likely to occur in all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In the past, I have extensively discussed (accusations of) witchcraft here, citing cases in a large number of SSA countries: Angola, DRC, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The fact that not all SSA countries are mentioned on this site is more a result of underreporting than of the phenomenon not occurring in the SSA countries not mentioned.
The article below is a worthwhile report on the causes and consequences of accusations of witchcraft in Ghana: worth reading but painful to read about what people can do to each other. The most vulnerable in society are often the victims: vulnerable, elderly women and young children. I am reminded of the sad case of the 90-year-old woman who was lynched in Ghana in 2000, accused of witchcraft (also mentioned by the author in the article below). Unfortunately, there are many more cases, some of which, as mentioned, are reported on this site. Terrible.
The author of the article below, Claire Thomas, an award-winning Welsh photojournalist and fine-art photographer, is to be commended for her thorough research into witchcraft in Ghana and the resulting reporting. Yesterday, I highlighted Leo Igwe’s excellent work in this area. These abuses (read: crimes) can never be given enough attention, and never enough action to eradicate them forever. (webmaster FVDK)
The women banished as witches in West Africa
Claire Thomas reports on the women banished from their communities after being accused of being witches
Published: February 13, 2026 By: Claire Thomas – Geographical, U.K.
In a remote part of West Africa, centuries-old superstitions continue to condemn women accused of witchcraft to exile. A landmark bill offers hope — but can justice overcome belief?
Report and photographs by Claire Thomas
From ghouls and goblins to fairies and ogres, mythical creatures have long stirred the imaginations of children. Tales of wizards and witches – one often symbolising wisdom and power, the other evil and danger – remain especially enduring, kept alive through books, films and folklore. But in northern Ghana, witches aren’t confined to fairy tales. Belief in witchcraft remains widespread and deeply entrenched there, with devastating consequences, particularly for women.
This belief can be deadly. In July 2020, 90-year-old Akua Denteh was brutally lynched in a public market after being accused of witchcraft. Her killing, filmed and widely circulated, shocked the nation and galvanised calls for legal reform. Her death became a symbol of the deadly intersection of superstition and gender-based violence.
To be accused of witchcraft in Ghana is to face exile, persecution and even death. These accusations – often directed at older, vulnerable women – can be triggered by personal misfortunes: the death of a relative, failed crops, illness or jealousy over a woman’s independence. Even a child’s success at school can spark suspicions of a mother’s spell. For those deemed guilty, banishment to one of northern Ghana’s six so-called ‘witch camps’ is often the only means of survival.
I first visited the Gambaga ‘witch camp’, located in Ghana’s North East Region, in 2008, and returned in 2012. There, I witnessed first-hand the stark realities the women endure. While interviewing one elderly woman, I asked if she believed she was a witch. Before she could respond, my translator, who was related to the local chief, interjected: ‘Of course she’s a witch. Why else would she be here?’ The question was never translated. Her answer was lost – her voice dismissed before it could even be heard.
The settlement – a cluster of round mud huts with thatched roofs in Ghana’s semi-arid savannah – offers fragile protection: safety from attack, but no escape from the stigma of being branded a witch.
Matis Awola, a widow in her late 50s, sits outside her hut in Gambaga to which she was banished after a man claimed to have seen her in a dream
Accusations often lead to a traditional ‘trial’ – a ritual involving the slaughter of a chicken or guinea fowl, with the manner of its death interpreted as spiritual evidence. But in many cases, the accusation alone is enough to seal a woman’s fate. Regardless of the ritual’s outcome, she may be cast out by her community, her judgment delivered not by spirits, but by neighbours.
When I returned to northern Ghana in May 2025, I met Matis Awola, a widow who had been banished from her home just a month earlier. For her, a man’s dream became a living nightmare.
‘A man saw me in a dream and the next day I was accused of being a witch,’ she tells me. ‘I went to the bush and wanted to kill myself.’
In April 2025, her son brought her to Gambaga, where she now lives in a tiny, windowless hut among about 80 other accused women. She survives by working on a local farm in exchange for food, clinging to the hope that she might one day return to her family.
Life in the camps is marked by relentless hardship. The women live in poverty and bear the burden of societal rejection, often ostracised even by their own families. They sleep on dirt floors in makeshift huts, relying on sparse donations from NGOs, churches or well-wishers. Access to clean water, healthcare and food is unreliable. Children who accompany their mothers or grandmothers are often bullied in school or pulled into street work, stigmatised as ‘witches’ children’.
Bachalbanueya has spent more than 40 years in exile. Now in her 80s, she sits quietly outside her crumbling mud-brick hut. She was banished after her husband’s co-wife accused her of witchcraft following his death – grief weaponised into a lifetime of isolation.
‘She had no children of her own,’ explains Reverend Gladys Lariba Mahama, a Presbyterian minister who has supported the women of Gambaga camp since 1997. ‘Whenever a child of the co-wife fell sick, they [the family] attributed it to her. Later, she was accused of causing the death of one of them, and she was brought to Gambaga.’
Stories like hers are tragically common. ‘It is violence against women – a demonisation of women,’ says Professor John Azumah, executive director of the Sanneh Institute in Accra, which has long supported survivors and is part of a coalition pushing for legal reform.
Even in Western usage, the term ‘witch hunt’ reflects long-standing cultural beliefs that associate witches with evil, and overwhelmingly with women. While men can also be accused, accusations most often target women. Witchcraft itself isn’t always seen as evil, Azumah explains, but when it’s believed to reside in a woman, it becomes feared and condemned. Male witches, by contrast, are often thought to use their powers for good.
Most of the women banished to camps are among society’s most vulnerable. ‘These women are the poorest of the poor,’ says Azumah. ‘They have no child or relatives well-off enough to speak for them – that’s why they’re languishing there. Women with educated children – those children get their mothers out. But these women have no-one. They are truly the voiceless.’
The women gather at the Community Centre in Gambaga
Lamnatu Adam, executive director of Songtaba, a women’s rights organisation in northern Ghana, echoes this view. ‘When men are spiritually strong, it’s said they use their power to protect the community and family,’ she says. ‘But when women are thought to be spiritually strong, it’s said they use it to cause harm, illness and disaster.’
As a result, women – particularly older women – disproportionately bear the burden of accusation and exile. ‘About 90 per cent of the women who are accused are over 60 years old and without education,’ says Adam. ‘They are very poor. Most don’t have children, and about 80 per cent are widows.’
Azumah traces the pattern of accusations to a blend of spiritual belief and calculated social exclusion. ‘It’s the oldest conspiracy theory of humankind,’ he says. ‘And it is a form of misogyny.’ Even a woman’s success, such as a bountiful harvest, can provoke jealousy. ‘They accuse her just to get her out of the community, then they take over her land.’
Sometimes, the danger comes from within the family. ‘Young men may genuinely believe their mothers are sabotaging their lives,’ he adds. ‘They truly believe it.’ In the end, he says, it’s scapegoating, ‘a conspiracy theory that has been used – and still is’.
Refuge or prison?
There are now around six unofficial ‘witch camps’ remaining in northern Ghana, situated near remote villages such as Gambaga, Kpatinga, Gnani and Kukuo. While these settlements may offer refuge from immediate danger, they also stand as stark reminders of social exclusion and the unresolved injustice the women continue to face.
As Professor Azumah puts it: ‘The camps are neither a refuge nor a prison, they are something in between.’
There are no fences or gates, yet most women don’t feel free to leave. Many believe that returning home would bring illness, misfortune or even death. Some were violently attacked before fleeing; others were quietly cast out by relatives seeking to rid the family of perceived spiritual danger.
‘There are no physical barriers keeping the women inside,’ says Professor Azumah. ‘But cultural and psychological ones are deeply entrenched. The women are made to believe that if they leave the camp, the spirits will kill them.’
Fusheina, a widow and mother of five, has lived in the Gnani camp in Ghana’s Northern Region for the past six years. She was accused of witchcraft by the chief of her village after the sudden death of her nephew. Expelled immediately, she now lives alone. ‘I’m not happy because my children are not with me,’ she says sorrowfully. ‘I just want to go home.’ But returning is not an option – she fears the villagers would harm her.
Life in the camp is extremely difficult, Fusheina adds. ‘There is no work. We don’t have a farm here, so we have no way of earning money.’ She hasn’t seen her children in more than two years.
While witchcraft accusations are common across Ghana, and many other countries, the practice of banishing women to isolated camps is less prevalent. ‘[Belief in] witchcraft is not just a Ghanaian thing,’ explains Professor Azumah. ‘It’s very strong in Nigeria, in East Africa, Tanzania, South Africa. What is unique about Ghana is the camps in the north.’
Despite being established to provide a place of refuge for vulnerable women, there are reports of exploitation and abuse within the camps. ‘I don’t call it a refuge,’ stresses Professor Azumah. ‘These are places of exploitation – the women there are exploited. Some of them are sexually abused, physically molested.’
Some women are forced to work without pay, fetching water or farming for community leaders and priests. There are credible reports of sexual abuse, and in at least one documented case, a priest fathered children with multiple women in a camp, according to Professor Azumah.
‘People are making money out of it,’ he adds. ‘It has become an industry – it is a huge business for people there. The women are used for free labour by the community leaders in the rainy season – they make them go and cultivate their farms. They do all the work manually and all they get is whatever food they can give them there to eat that day to do the work, that’s all. They are not paid anything.’
Even humanitarian aid doesn’t always reach its intended recipients. Community leaders – who often control the camps – have been accused of diverting food and money for personal use.
Chief of Gnani village, Mohammed Abdulai, in talks with Lamnatu Adam, of Songtaba, a women’s rights advocacy group
‘These are not safe havens,’ says Azumah. ‘They are places where society has abandoned its most vulnerable.’
In Gambaga, the Presbyterian Church has worked for decades to help restore dignity and agency, says Reverend Gladys Lariba Mahama. ‘In the past, when women were banished, no-one asked about them,’ she says. ‘But because of the church’s intervention, people now know them, and the whole world knows their story.’
‘This place [Gambaga camp] was established out of love and sympathy,’ she continues. Referring to the camp as a ‘home’, Reverend Gladys explains that it was founded decades ago when a local religious leader intervened to protect women accused of witchcraft. ‘Whenever they were accused, they would send them to the execution field to kill them. So this man – he was the imam of Gambaga – pleaded that they come here instead.’
Since the early 1960s, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has supported the women by providing food, second-hand clothing and helping to repair their modest homes. ‘Around 1994, the church saw that they could do more,’ explains Reverend Gladys. ‘So they came up with a proposal – the main purpose was to reintegrate the women into their original communities, ensure their health needs are met, send their children to school and make life more comfortable for them here.’
The women of Gambaga camp clearly trust Reverend Gladys. As she moves through the settlement she greets the women by name, exchanging warm smiles and translating their stories with care.
‘We are here every morning,’ she tells me as an elderly woman approaches her with a gentle smile and a handshake. ‘We’re working hard now on the reintegration programme. Many women travel home to visit and return. Some of their family members even come here to see them.’
Still, stigma remains. For most of the women, their families refuse to visit.
Gambaga’s central location – at the heart of the village rather than tucked away – offers a greater degree of community integration. ‘They’re well integrated into Gambaga and the surrounding communities,’ says Reverend Gladys. ‘Sometimes, because of the humiliation and trauma they’ve endured, when you ask the women if they want to go home, some will say no.’
The cost of going home
Reintegration comes at a cost – both symbolic and financial. For the few women who eventually return, sometimes years or even decades after being accused, the process depends on a traditional ‘cleansing’ ritual intended to absolve them of alleged witchcraft. Performed by spiritual leaders, it typically involves the slaughter of a ram and a chicken, and can cost more than 1,000 Ghanaian cedis (around US$100).
But even with support, reintegration is far from straightforward. In many cases, no amount of spiritual absolution or mediation is enough to convince families or communities to accept a woman back. ‘Most of the communities say even the exorcism – we don’t believe in it, because once a witch, forever a witch,’ says Professor Azumah. ‘They [the communities] believe in the diagnosis, but not the cure. When the same priest declares a woman a witch, they believe him. But when he says, “I can perform a ritual to free her of the spirit,” they don’t believe that part.’
In Gambaga, the church often steps in. ‘When a woman wants to try to return home, we work on it,’ says Reverend Gladys. ‘But first she has to go through purification.’
For Ama Somani, a mother of eight, the church’s support changed everything. ‘I wanted death because it was too painful,’ she says, recalling her exile. She had been accused by her niece, who blamed her for a mysterious illness. A traditional ritual involving the slaughter of a guinea fowl found her guilty. With no one to defend her – her husband, a landlord in their community, remained absent – Ama spent four years in Gambaga, isolated and uncertain.
In April 2025, with help from the Presbyterian Church, she was finally reintegrated into her extended family in a nearby village. The church provided food rations and negotiated her return. Life remains difficult, she says, but she is overjoyed to be reunited with her children and loved ones.
Alongside the church, Professor Azumah and the Sanneh Institute, together with NGOs and human rights advocates, have worked tirelessly to reintegrate accused women across northern Ghana.
‘Sometimes the accuser has died, or the situation in the village has changed, and the woman can safely return,’ explains Azumah. ‘Sometimes the community or family regrets the accusation. They admit it came from jealousy or envy. They want the woman to come back. But first, she has to pay what I call the “discharge fee” – the cost of rituals to release her.’
These rituals, he adds, are what keep many women trapped. ‘Most can’t afford them. So even when they could return safely, they’re stuck because they can’t pay for the ceremony that would set them free.’ In some cases, as NGOs have stepped in to help, community leaders have raised prices, hoping donors will cover the costs. ‘They’ve inflated the fees astronomically,’ says Azumah. ‘And so, the cycle continues.’
Calling on Ghana’s president to sign the Anti-Witchcraft Bill during a Mother’s Day event at the Gnani camp
Despite these obstacles, organisations such as ActionAid Ghana and Songtaba have helped reintegrate hundreds of women. ‘Overall, we’ve reintegrated not less than 600 people into their communities over the past 15 years,’ says Esther Boateng, ActionAid Ghana’s regional manager for the Northern, Northeast and Savannah regions. ‘We identify their home communities, engage families and involve the entire community – the same community that accused them.’
In 2014, ActionAid worked with the Ministry of Gender to shut down the Bonyasi camp in the Central Gonja District after successfully reintegrating all of its residents. ‘We had to ensure their safety, so we combined community sensitisation, radio education and events like Mother’s Day celebrations to build acceptance,’ says Boateng. ‘We even built houses for some women returning home. It was a fully integrated programme, and today, Bonyasi camp no longer exists.’
Spirits, sickness and superstition
The persistence of witchcraft accusations in Ghana can’t be understood without acknowledging the deep-rooted belief in spirits, possession and supernatural causality – beliefs that shape how many Ghanaians interpret illness, misfortune and conflict.
During a visit to the stilt village of Nzulezu in Ghana’s Western Region in 2012, I witnessed just how deeply these convictions are held. One night, the wooden platform beneath me shuddered, waking me from sleep. Under a moonlit sky, I stepped outside the homestay hut and onto the creaking boardwalk. Across the water, silhouetted figures had gathered. Women wailed and chanted, a plume of smoke rising among them. A small child, wrapped in a blanket, was being passed gently from one person to another.
Curious and concerned, I asked what was happening. I was told the child had been possessed by an evil spirit.
Later, a man approached and asked if I could help. Unsure what to say, I suggested we take the child to the hospital to be tested for malaria. ‘No, no,’ he replied, shaking his head. ‘We need to take out the evil spirit.’ The ritual continued through the night.
Wuriche Bajimoin prepares dawadawa, a traditional West African seasoning made from locust bean seeds, in Gambaga camp
The next morning, I saw a relative of the boy and asked how he was doing. With a broad smile of relief, the man said, ‘He’s much better.’ I asked what had been wrong with him. ‘Malaria!’ he answered.
This brief encounter has stayed with me for years. It revealed how central spiritual explanations are to daily life, and how illness and affliction are often viewed through a supernatural lens. In that context, it becomes easier to understand how, in moments of unexplained tragedy or fear, suspicion turns towards someone believed to possess malevolent power. Often, that someone is an older woman without protection.
Belief in witchcraft is very strong, Professor Azumah tells me. ‘Medical doctors believe it; police officers believe it. Even judges believe it.’
Hope, and a way forward
What has struck me most on each visit to the camps of northern Ghana is the remarkable resilience of the women who live there. Despite the extreme hardship and the isolation of exile – not just from society, but often from their own families – the women maintain a quiet strength. Even in the face of rejection and poverty, the joyful spirit so beautifully woven into Ghanaian culture endures. ‘Happiness is free,’ one woman told me with a smile.
Now, for the first time in years, there is a glimmer of hope. In March 2025, Ghana’s parliament reintroduced a landmark piece of legislation: the Anti-Witchcraft Bill. If passed, it would outlaw the naming or accusing of someone as a witch, criminalise the spiritual consultations that often lead to accusations, hold ritual practitioners legally accountable and empower police and social workers to intervene. Crucially, it also lays the groundwork for reintegration programmes to support survivors returning to society.
The bill had previously passed parliament in July 2023 as an amendment to the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, but Ghana’s former president refused to sign it into law. Reintroduced under a new administration, the bill is now scheduled for debate – what campaigners describe as a final, pivotal opportunity for change.
According to the bill, its primary objective is ‘to address the unfortunate beliefs and thinking in some communities that make Madam Akua Denteh’s case possible’. Her brutal murder in 2020 sparked national outrage and galvanised public support for reform.
The bill acknowledges that belief in witchcraft is not unique to Ghana. It cites England’s 1735 Witchcraft Act, which criminalised accusing someone of magical powers, and underscores the importance of public education and cultural transformation. ‘Now witchcraft isn’t illegal in the UK, but the level of enlightenment is such that witchcraft is generally viewed with amusement, if not ridicule.’
An exiled young woman in Gambaga camp
Civil society organisations, including ActionAid Ghana, Songtaba and the Sanneh Institute, have long advocated for these reforms, leading public awareness campaigns and pushing for legal protection of accused women. Amnesty International has also urged parliament to pass the bill without delay, warning that continued inaction leaves hundreds of women at risk of violence and abuse.
While many are hopeful that the current president will sign the bill if passed again, doubts persist. ‘It’s not a vote winner,’ says Professor Azumah.
Even after the widespread condemnation that followed Akua Denteh’s murder, resistance to reform remains entrenched. ‘We have our own conspiracy theories,’ Azumah says in response to the previous president’s refusal to sign the bill. ‘We believe there are powerful religious figures and some chiefs working behind the scenes to block it.’
Those fears haven’t disappeared. ‘That’s our concern with the current president, too,’ he continues. ‘If the bill is passed again and those chiefs and religious leaders start to pressure him behind closed doors, we might never even know. Politicians want votes. And they fear that pushing this through could hurt them in the next election.’
Among advocates, there is cautious optimism. Passing the bill is only the beginning. Real change will require coordinated implementation, sustained funding and a long-term commitment from both the government and civil society.
A child at the Gambaga camp. Children often accompany their mother or grandmothers into exile and are vulnerable to exploitation, with some reports of sexual abuse. They also face stigma and bullying at school, leading many to drop out
Even the bill itself acknowledges these challenges: ‘Legislation on such a subject may not immediately eliminate the problem, but it provides an awareness and a deterrent, which, if handled with the requisite public education and sensitisation, can eradicate the practice.’
‘I think the passage of the legislation will significantly reduce the accusations,’ says Professor Azumah. ‘And over time, it will die out.’
‘The accusation is the beginning of everything,’ he adds. ‘If we stop it at the source, we can begin to address the issue. We’re not going to relent. We will keep pushing until this bill becomes law.’
A nation at a crossroads
Ghana now stands at a crossroads. The debate over the Anti-Witchcraft Bill is not only about superstition, but also about women’s rights, state responsibility and the power of law to reshape cultural norms.
For survivors like Bachalbanueya, the bill may come too late to restore what was lost. But whether Ghana chooses to act now, or allows fear and silence to prevail, will determine not only the fate of women like her, but the moral direction of the nation itself.
Unfortunately, murders for ritualistic purposes are not an exception in the West African country of Sierra Leone even though reported cases are relatively scarce. But, as in many other African countries, there might be a substantial gap between reported cases and the reality. Cases may go unreported for various reasons: protection of the perpetrator or the person who ordered the crime for ritualistic purposes, fear of reprisal, or simply because the victim of the crime was successfully hidden, e.g. in a dense forest area.
The article below is a living testimony that also in Sierra Leone the trade in human body parts makes innocent victims. The criminalization of what was once a traditional ceremony—albeit a deadly one—is not limited to Sierra Leone, unfortunately. The BBC investigation below exposes the grim reality of contemporary ritual killings for individual, personal gain: get-rich-quick schemes, increased social status, or for political purposes.
Warning: some readers may find the following articles disturbing because of their graphic contents. (webmaster FVDK)
Hunting down those who kill people to sell their body parts for ‘magic charms’
Papayo’s mother Sally Kalokoh has not come to terms with her son’s death and wants his killers found
Published: November 24, 2025 By: BBC – Tyson Conteh, Sierra Leone
With many families left traumatised by killings apparently linked to supposed magic rituals in Sierra Leone, BBC Africa Eye looks into those behind the trade in human body parts.
Warning: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing.
The mother of an 11-year-old boy murdered as part of a suspected black magic killing four years ago is devastated that no-one has yet been brought to justice for his death.
“Today I’m in pain. They killed my child and now there is just silence,” Sallay Kalokoh told BBC Africa Eye, explaining how her son Papayo was found with parts of his body removed, including his vital organs, eyes and one arm.
He had gone out to sell fish at the market and never came back.
His family searched for him for two weeks – and finally found his mutilated corpse at the bottom of a well.
“We always tell our children to be careful. If you are selling, don’t go to a corner or take gifts from strangers. It happens frequently in this country,” Ms Kalokoh said.
This murder in my hometown of Makeni, in central Sierra Leone, has haunted me as we often hear of reports of killings linked to black magic, also known as juju, that are never followed up or properly investigated by the authorities.
In Papayo’s case, the police did not even confirm that it was a “ritual killing” – when a person is murdered so that parts of their body can be used in so-called magic rituals by illicit juju practitioners.
They promise things like prosperity and power to clients who pay large sums in the false belief that human body parts can make such charms more potent.
But with the authorities severely under-resourced – there is only one pathologist in a country that has a population of 8.9 million – it is often impossible to gather the evidence needed to track down the culprits.
Belief in witchcraft is also so deeply ingrained in Sierra Leone, even among many police officers, that there is often a fear of pursuing cases further – and most go unsolved.
But I wanted to find out more about this underground trade in human body parts that leaves tragedy in its wake.
Our BBC Africa Eye team was able to find two people who claimed they were juju practitioners and offered to obtain body parts for ritual purposes.
Both said they were part of much larger networks – and one boasted that he had powerful clients across West Africa. The BBC was unable to verify these claims.
One member of our team went undercover, using the name Osman, to pose as a politician who wanted to achieve power through human sacrifice.
We first travelled to a remote area of Kambia district, in the north of the country near the Guinean border, to meet the juju man in his secret shrine – an area in dense bush where he consulted with his clients.
Calling himself Kanu, he wore a ceremonial red mask covering his whole face to conceal his identity and boasted of his political connections.
“I was working with some big, big politicians in Guinea, Senegal and Nigeria. We have our team. Sometimes during election time, at night, this place is full of people,” he claimed.
On a second visit, Kanu became more confident and showed Osman what he said was evidence of his trade – a human skull.
“You see this? This belongs to someone. I dried it for them. It is a woman’s skull. I am expecting the person to pick this up today or tomorrow.”
He also pointed to a pit behind his shrine: “This is where we hang human parts. We slaughter here, and the blood goes down there… Even big chiefs, when they want power, come here. I give them what they want.”
When Osman specified that he wanted limbs from a woman to be used in a ritual, Kanu got down to business: “The price of a woman is 70m leones [£2,500; $3,000].”
Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest countries and is recovering from the legacy of a brutal 11-year civil war
Anxious not to put anyone at risk, we did not meet Kanu again. He may have been a scammer, but we handed over our evidence to the local police to investigate further.
Such juju men sometimes refer to themselves as herbalists, the name given to healers who use traditional medicine often made from local plants to treat common illnesses.
World Health Organization data shows that Sierra Leone – which suffered a brutal civil war in the 1990s and was at the centre of the Ebola epidemic a decade ago – had around 1,000 registered doctors in 2022, compared to reported estimates of 45,000 traditional healers.
Most people in the West African nation rely on these healers, who also help with mental health issues and treat their patients in shrines where there is an element of mysticism and spiritualism culturally associated with their craft and the remedies they sell.
Sheku Tarawallie, president of Sierra Leone’s Council of Traditional Healers, is adamant that “diabolic” juju men like Kanu are giving healers a bad name.
“We are trying very hard to clear our image. The ordinary person doesn’t understand, so they class us [all] as bad herbalists. One rotting fish can destroy the batch of fish… We are healers, we are not killers,” he told BBC Africa Eye.
Mr Tarawallie is in fact trying to work with the government and another non-governmental organisation to open a traditional medicine clinic to treat patients.
It was those with a lust for power and money who were often behind the ritual killings, he believed.
“When somebody wants to become a leader… they remove parts from human beings. They use that one as a sacrifice. Burn people, use their ashes for power. Use their oil for power.”
The number of ritual killings in Sierra Leone, where most people identify as Muslim or Christian, is not known.
“In most African countries, ritual murders are not officially recorded as a separate or sub-category of homicide,” Emmanuel Sarpong Owusu, a lecturer at the UK’s Arden University, told the BBC.
“Some are misclassified or misreported as accidents, deaths resulting from attacks by wild animals, suicides, natural deaths… Most perpetrators – possibly 90% – are not apprehended.”
When we found another suspected supplier of body parts, he was located in a suburb of the capital, Freetown, called Waterloo, which is notorious for drug abuse and other crime.
“I’m not alone, I have up to 250 herbalists working under my banner,” the man calling himself Idara told Osman, who was again undercover and wearing a secret camera.
“There are no human parts that we don’t work with. Once we call for a specific body part, then they bring it. We share the work,” Idara said.
He went on to explain how some of his collaborators were good at capturing people – and on Osman’s second visit played a voice message from one of them who claimed they were prepared to start going out every night in search of a victim.
Osman told him not to proceed yet but when he later received a call from Idara claiming his team had identified a victim, we contacted Police Commissioner Ibrahim Sama.
He decided to organise a raid – but said his officers would not do so without the involvement of Mr Tarawallie, who often assists the police on such operations.
“When we got intelligence that there is a particular dangerous witchdoctor operating a shrine, we will work with the traditional healers,” said an officer on the raid, Assistant Superintendent Aliu Jallo.
He went on to express the superstitions some officers have about tackling rogue herbalists: “I will not go and provoke situations. I know that they have their own powers that are beyond my knowledge.”
After Idara was captured – discovered hiding in the roof clutching a knife – Mr Tarawallie began searching the property for evidence, saying there were human bones, human hair and piles of what looked like dirt from cemeteries.
This was enough for the police to arrest Idara and two other men, who were charged in June with practising sorcery as well as being in possession of traditional weapons used in ritual killings. They pleaded not guilty to the charges and have since been granted bail, pending further investigations.
The police raided this house in Waterloo and arrested the occupants, including Idara, who were later charged under anti-witchcraft laws
As we never heard back from the police in Kambia about Kanu, I tried to call him myself to challenge him about the allegations directly, but he was unreachable.
There are occasions when even high-profile cases appear to stall. Two years ago, a university lecturer went missing in Freetown and his body was later found buried in what police say was the shrine of a herbalist in Waterloo.
The case was referred in August 2023 by a magistrate to the High Court for trial, but two sources have told the BBC it has not been pursued so far and those detained by police have been released on bail.
My family is facing similar hurdles finding justice. In May, during our BBC investigation, my 28-year-old cousin Fatmata Conteh was murdered in Makeni.
A hairdresser and mother of two, her body was dumped the day after her birthday by the side of the road where a resident told the BBC two other bodies had been found in recent weeks.
Several of her front teeth were missing, leading the community to believe it was a ritual killing.
“She was a lady that never did harm. She was very peaceful and hard-working,” said one mourner as family, friends and colleagues gathered for a big funeral at her local mosque.
We may never know the true motive for Fatmata’s murder. The family paid for her body to be transported to Freetown for an autopsy – something the authorities could not afford to do – but the post-mortem was inconclusive and no arrests have yet been made.
As is the case for Papayo’s mother, the lack of closure and feeling of abandonment by the police fuels fear and terror in poor communities like Makeni.
Additional reporting by Chris Alcock and Luis Barrucho
‘Murder for black magic’: when body parts are sold for ‘magical amulets’
A series of murders suspected of being caused by black magic rituals has shaken Sierra Leone
“Murder for black magic”: The horrific stories in Africa where body parts are sold for ‘magical amulets’
Published: November 26, 2025 By: Vox News
Four years ago, 11-year-old Papayo was killed in a crime believed to have been part of a black magic ritual. His mother, Sallay Kalokoh, is devastated that no one has yet been brought to justice. Papayo was found butchered at the bottom of a well, with body parts removed, including vital organs, eyes and one arm. He had gone to sell fish at the market and never returned.
“We always advise children to be careful. If you sell something, don’t go to some remote corner and don’t accept gifts from strangers. This happens a lot in this country,” Kalokoh said.
Papayo’s murder in the central city of Makeni is just one of many suspected cases of black magic (juju) that are often not investigated or pursued by authorities. In his case, police never confirmed that it was a “ritual killing.”
The dark market for body parts
Juju practitioners promise prosperity and power to clients who pay large sums, believing that human body parts make their spells more powerful. However, with authorities having limited resources – just one pathologist for a population of 8.9 million – it is difficult to gather evidence to prosecute the perpetrators.
Belief in witchcraft is so ingrained in Sierra Leone, even among some police officers, that there is often a fear of pursuing cases, and most remain unsolved.
According to a BBC Africa Eye investigation, the team managed to contact two people who claimed to be juju practitioners and offered body parts for rituals. They said they were part of larger networks and one claimed to have powerful clients in West Africa, but the BBC was unable to verify these claims.
A team reporter went by the name Osman, posing as a politician seeking power through human sacrifice. In a remote area of ??Kambia district, he met a practitioner who wore a red ceremonial mask and threatened to work with top politicians in Guinea, Senegal, and Nigeria. He showed a human skull and a pit where body parts were placed.
When Osman asked for body parts from a woman for the ritual, the practitioner estimated the price at 70 million leones (around £2,500 / $3,000). For the safety of the team, the BBC did not meet the practitioner again, but handed over the evidence to the local police.
The role of traditional healers
Some practitioners are also called traditional healers and use plants to treat common ailments. Sierra Leone has about 1,000 registered doctors and about 45,000 traditional healers, who often also help with mental health issues.
Sheku Tarawallie, president of the Traditional Healers Council, points out that “evil” practitioners give all healers a bad name: “We are healers, not killers. One rotten fish can spoil all the wheat… We are trying to clean up our image.”
He believes that behind the ritual killings are those who covet power and money “when someone wants to become a leader… they remove parts from people. They use them as sacrifices, they burn people, they use the ashes and oil for power.”
Police operations and arrests
A suspected supplier was found in Waterloo, a Freetown neighborhood known for crime and drug use. He claimed to have 250 healers working under him and could provide any body part required.
The police, in collaboration with Tarawallie, organized a raid. Idara was caught hiding on the roof with a knife. Bones, human hair, and cemetery soil were found on the property. He and two others were charged with practicing witchcraft and possessing ritual weapons. They pleaded not guilty and were released on bail.
Other cases and lack of justice
Two years ago, a university lecturer disappeared in Freetown and was later found in a ritual square. Families like Papayo’s and those of her 28-year-old cousin Fatmata Conteh, who was killed in Makeni, face the same obstacles to justice. The autopsy was inconsistent and there were no arrests.
The market for body parts for witchcraft rituals in Sierra Leone remains secretive, dangerous and largely unsolved. A lack of resources, deep-rooted belief in witchcraft and challenges to proper investigation leave communities impoverished and terrified, as families seek justice for their loved ones.
Human Sacrifice in Sierra Leone Driven by Black Magic Practices
Published: November 26, 2025 By: Khaborwala International Desk
The superstition surrounding black magic remains deeply rooted in Sierra Leone, where numerous families have suffered killings linked to the illegal trade in human body parts. Shocking details have emerged in an investigation by BBC Africa Eye.
Four years ago, 11-year-old Papayo was murdered in the name of black magic. His mother, Sallai Kaloka, is still waiting for justice. She told the BBC, “I am in great pain. They killed my child, and now there is only silence.”
Sallai said Papayo never returned home after she left for the market to sell fish. When his body was found, vital organs, his eyes, and one hand had been removed. After being missing for two weeks, his mutilated body was discovered in an abandoned well.
She said, “We always warn our children—don’t go to deserted places, be cautious before accepting anything from strangers. Incidents like this happen frequently here.”
According to Sallai, such killings are common in their town, Makeni. Police often do not even classify them as ritual killings. Juju practitioners use human body parts for charms or rituals and lure clients by promising wealth or power. With only one pathologist for a population of 8.9 million, proper investigations are nearly impossible.
Belief in black magic is so strong in Sierra Leone that even police officers are often afraid to investigate these cases, leaving most crimes unresolved. BBC Africa Eye found two individuals who claimed to be juju practitioners and offered to supply human body parts.
One of them said they had clients across several West African countries. A BBC Africa Eye member, disguised as a politician named Osman, travelled to Kambia district near the Guinea border to meet a juju practitioner named Kanu, whose face was covered with a red cloth throughout the meeting.
Kanu said, “I have worked with major politicians in Guinea, Senegal, and Nigeria. People flock here during election periods.” He then showed a dried human skull, claiming, “This belonged to a woman. Someone will take it within a few days.” According to him, female body parts cost 70 million leones, or around 3,000 dollars.
For safety reasons, the BBC made no further contact with him. The collected information has been handed to the police.
Many juju practitioners in Sierra Leone identify themselves as herbalists. Yet, as of 2022, the country had only about 1,000 registered doctors, compared to nearly 45,000 traditional healers. Many people seek help from these healers for mental health and other issues.
Sheku Tarawali, president of the Sierra Leone Council of Traditional Healers, said black magic practitioners like Kanu are tarnishing the reputation of herbalists. He accused some individuals of committing these murders for power and money.
BBC Africa Eye also identified another suspected supplier of body parts in Waterloo. The man, using the alias “Idara”, claimed to have 250 witchdoctors and spirit practitioners working under him and said they could provide any body part if required.
During one meeting, he played a voice note from an associate saying they were ready to hunt for a “victim” that night. After receiving this information, Police Commissioner Ibrahim Sama launched a raid with Sheku Tarawali and a specialist team. Human bones, hair, and various body parts were recovered.
Earlier, the body of a university lecturer had been found in a temple in Waterloo. The case went to the High Court but never progressed, and the suspects were released on bail.
During the BBC investigation, 28-year-old Fatmata Conteh was murdered in Makeni. Her body was found by the roadside the day after her birthday, with several front teeth missing—leading locals to believe it was a ritual killing. Her family sent the body to Freetown for an autopsy at their own expense, but no findings emerged.
Like Papayo’s mother, many families continue to suffer without justice. Police inaction and a culture of fear have intensified widespread panic across the region.
It’s impressive how the police uncovered everything, but it never led to a rial. The perpetrators went unpunished. A painful thought. (webmaster FVDK)
The photo Joyce Osagiede claimed to be Adam (Image: PA)
Mystery of boy’s torso found in Thames after ‘voodoo ritual’ remains decades later
Published: September 7, 2025 By: Saskia Rowlands – The Mirror, UK
More than two decades since little Adam’s torso was discovered in the river Thames, police are no closer to finding the boy’s killer after he was slaughtered in a horrific “voodoo ritual”
The child’s torso was dressed in orange shorts (Image: PA)
The torso of a little boy from Africa was found in London’s river Thames over two decades ago – but his killer is still on the loose.
An investigation found the youngster, aged between four and seven, was smuggled into Britain and slaughtered as part of a horrific voodoo ritual. Tests proved he had been plied with a powerful potion of gold dust and quartz, drugged into paralysis with a type of African bean and had his throat slit.
But despite several arrests and forensic breakthroughs over the years, nobody has been brought to justice for the horrific crime. As the 24th anniversary of the horror approaches, we take a fresh look at the evidence and how the story unfolded.
Officers recovered the body upstream (Image: SWNS)
The discovery
On September 21 2001, IT consultant Aidan Minter was walking across London’s Tower Bridge when he caught sight of something floating in the water. It was just 10 days after the 9/11 attacks in the US and the city was still strangely quiet.
At first, Aidan thought it was a shop mannequin with a red cloth attached to it. But as the object passed under the bridge and out the other side, he realised he was in fact staring at a headless child.
It’s a memory Aidan lives with to this day. He said during an interview in 2020: “I do think about him – I’ll never forget it for as long as I live.” Police pulled the body from the water upstream, close to the Globe Theatre, later that day. They named him Adam.
Aidan Minter spotted the torso in the river (Image: BBC NEWS)
The first week
Early investigations suggested Adam’s body may have been in the water for as long as 10 days. Police conclude he died from having his throat slit. His arms, legs and head had all been expertly amputated. The body parts have never been found.
There were no signs of physical or sexual abuse, and he had been well fed. He was wearing nothing but a pair of orange shorts – something which later gave officers their first breakthrough. The label indicated they were made by firm Kids & Company and the size and colour could only be found in a small number of shops in Germany.
Detective sergeant Nick Chalmers was one of the police officers assigned to the case and says it was the strangest and most complex of his career. He added: “You definitely have a tie to a case, and there’s this drive to find answers. The one thing that has lingered is the frustration that we didn’t find all the answers.”
Retired detective Nick Chalmers worked on the investigation (Image: BBC NEWS)
African connection
Tests showed Adam had lived in Africa until shortly before his death. Because his body had been precisely butchered, experts decided it had been a ritualistic murder.
Some thought it was a rare so-called “muti” killing found in southern Africa – when a victim’s body parts are removed and used by witchdoctors. Others said it was more likely a human sacrifice linked to a twisted version of Yoruban belief systems from Nigeria.
Nelson Mandela later made an impassioned plea to the African public for help, saying: “The boy comes from somewhere in Africa, so if anywhere, even in the remotest village of our continent, there is a family missing a son of that age who might have disappeared around that time please contact the police.”
Nelson Mandela made an impassioned plea (Image: Mirrorpix)
Breakthrough
In July 2002, social workers in Glasgow became concerned for the safety of two girls living with their mum, an African woman named Joyce Osagiede. Council workers found bizarre, ritualistic objects in her home. And at a court hearing to take the children into care, Joyce told an alarming story of cults, killings and sacrifices.
Joyce Osagiede was considered a key witness (Image: BBC NEWS)
DS Nick Chalmers searched her home and found clothes with the same Kids & Company label and in the same sizes as Adam’s orange shorts. Joyce is arrested.
Officers were convinced Joyce was an important part of the story, but she was confused and kept changing her account. She denied knowing Adam, but was unable to explain the extraordinary coincidence about the shorts. Officers lacked enough evidence to charge Joyce. She remained in Glasgow awaiting an asylum decision.
The shorts were from a brand called Kids and Company (Image: SWNS)
September – November 2002
Forensic work narrowed down Adam’s birthplace to land near Benin City in Nigeria, which is Joyce’s home city. Pollen samples in his gut showed he had been living in the south-east of England for a few days or weeks before his death. Also in his stomach was an unusual substance made of African river clay – including vegetation, ground bone and traces of gold and quartz. The presence of ash showed the mixture had been burned before Adam ate it.
In November, Joyce was deported after the Home Office rejected her asylum application. She vanishes after landing in Lagos. Afterwards, German police say she lived in Hamburg until late 2001, which is the city where Adam’s shorts were purchased.
July – October 2003
A man named Kingsley Ojo is arrested as part of several human trafficking raids in London. Police discovered he was one of two contacts on Joyce’s phone. And during a search of his house, officers find an animal skull pierced with a nail, liquid potions, packets of sand and a videotape labelled ‘rituals’ which showed an adult being beheaded.
Kingsley Ojo was jailed with four charges of people smuggling and using fake documents (Image: PA)
Meanwhile, botanists at London’s Kew Gardens analysed samples of a plant found in Adam’s gut and discovered he was fed small amounts of Calabar bean, sometimes known as the Doomsday, and used in witchcraft ceremonies in West Africa. The dosage found would have paralysed Adam but not prevented any pain. Ground up seeds from the Datura plant, which acts as a sedative and causes hallucinations, were also found.
Traces of so-called Doomesday seeds were found in Adam’s stomach (Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
July – December 2004
Kingsley Ojo was jailed with four charges of people smuggling and using fake documents to obtain a passport and driving licence. He was said to have performed ‘juju’ ceremonies for other inmates behind bars.
An inquest into Adam’s death recorded a verdict of unlawful killing, hearing that he died from neck wounds suffered while he was still alive.
Adam was laid to rest in an unmarked grave( Image: BBC NEWS)
2005 – 2008
Kingsley Ojo offered to help the team investigating Adam’s death and claims he has secret recordings of Joyce. While awaiting deportation, he convinced officers he could help and spent two years feeding them information.
In December 2006, Adam’s body was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in a London cemetery. And two years later, Ojo is deported back to Nigeria after detectives decide they can’t rely on him.
In Nigeria, Joyce Osagiede finally admits she looked after Adam when she had lived in Hamburg in northern Germany and bought the orange shorts found on his body. A social worker assessing benefit claims later says she met Joyce on several occasions when she was in Hamburg and remembers seeing her with a small boy who she believes was Adam.
March 2011 – 2012
Joyce Osagiede claimed a photo found among her belongings in Germany was of Adam. She said his real name was Ikpomwosa and that she had looked after the boy, but gave him to a man called Bawa.
The following year, Joyce’s brother Victor said the boy in the photo was not Adam, claiming it was a misunderstanding. The BBC later met with Victor and Joyce who said the boy in the image was actually called Danny – who was later tracked down in Hamburg.
Joyce then suggests Adam was called Patrick Erhabor. She later identifies the man Bawa as trafficker Kingsley Ojo. Ojo continues to deny links to Adam’s killing and no evidence of his involvement is found.
The photo Joyce claimed to be Adam(Image: PA)
September 2021 – present
The Met Police launch a fresh appeal to find Adam’s killer to mark the 20 year anniversary of his body being found. The previous year, Joyce’s brother Victor revealed Joyce had died.
Aidan Minter, who spotted the body in the river, was diagnosed with acute post-traumatic stress disorder. He says he felt utterly helpless, knowing his discovery was somebody’s son.
For retired detective Nick Chalmers, the lack of answers is deeply frustrating. He said: “This was an innocent young child. There are people responsible for his death who haven’t been brought to justice. Twenty years on, I wish we knew the identity of Adam – and his parents. In reality, he is a missing child from a family, who probably don’t know he’s buried here in London.”
A few days ago, on September 19, an important meeting took place in the United States, in the House of Representatives to be precise. A subcommittee on global human rights, of the Commission of Foreign Affairs, held a hearing on ‘Efforts to Address Ritual Abuse and Sacrifice in Africa’.
Witnesses invited to speak were Obed Byamugisha, Program Advisor, Kyampisi Childcare Ministries, Miriam Fullah, Trafficking in Persons Protection Manager, World Hope International, Dr. Alan White, Co-Executive Director, Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights and former Chief of Investigations of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL, which sentenced former Liberian warlord and president Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison), and Josephine Aparo, Founding Member, Global Survivor Network and International Justice Mission.
At least three leading Liberian newspapers published articles on the hearing, revelations and accusations notably of Dr. Alan White, who linked immediate past and present Liberian governments to ritualistic killings. The three articles – in the Daily Observer, Front Page Africa, and The New Dawn – are reproduced below. In a separate posting I will pay attention to the testimonies of the other witnesses.
The responsibility for the reporting on Dr. Alan White’s testimony in the three Liberian newspapers rests entirely with the publishers of said newspapers. White’s testimony addresses the roles of former president Sirleaf (2006 – 2018) and president Weah (2018 – present) and he formulates his observations and conclusions carefully. The newspapers’ headings are meant to attract the attention of the readers (buyers), without nuance. Therefore and to avoid any misunderstanding about White’s statements I’ve also included the full text of his important testimony (below).
Dr. White, who – as Chief Investigator of the SCSL – has extensive knowledge of ritualistic practices and abuses which occurred in Sierra Leone during this country’s civil war (1991-2002), also referred to these atrocities in his testimony. Moreover, he said, “This practice continues today in Sierra Leone and surges during election periods where people running for office believe that sacrificing a person, mostly younger boys and girls because it is believed the younger they are, the more power they get.”
With respect to Liberia he provides more than one example of ritualistic abuse and murder. His most serious accusation addresses the previous Administration of President Sirleaf and the present Weah Administration: “The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration during her 12 years (2006-2018) in office was plagued with ritual killings and despite vows to bring them to an end they continued. The same problems continue under the Weah administration and unlike Sirleaf there were no insiders reporting her direct involvement with the ritual killings. However, we have received information that current administration has been linked to ritualistic killings of children. Sources advise the police are not allowed to investigate these matters or if they do, it is done superficially as to not get to close to those involved. Also, because of the high-level links to the government it is taboo to say anything about it or otherwise you could be the next victim.”
White could hardly be more specific when stating: “The Foundation has received disturbing information about the frequency of such killings and the allegations linking it to the Executive Mansion (The Office of the President) and other high-ranking government officials. Details of these atrocities are difficult to obtain.”
On October 10, presidential and legislative elections will be held in Liberia. Should I add more? (webmaster FVDK).
Liberia: Alan White Accuses Weah’s Gov’t of Extrajudicial, Ritualistic Killings
…. Calls for justice for murdered auditors, three missing boys resound at U.S. Congressional hearings
Piublished: September 20, 2023 By: William Q. Harmon – Daily Observer, Liberia
Renowned human rights activist and Co-Executive Director for the Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights (AFHR), Dr. Alan White has told the United States House Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs that President George Weah and his Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) are involved in acts of extrajudicial and ritualistic killing.
Addressing the subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, under the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr. White said that at least 10 people were killed in unclear circumstances in 2021, including five in September of that year reportedly with suspected links to ritualistic practices or political motivations.
The killings referenced by Dr. White, all of which occurred during the Weah administration, were never solved and remain fresh on the minds of Liberians as the country goes to the polls on October 10 this year, to elect a president, vice president and 88 legislators.
On December 10, 2021, the United Nations issued a public statement –“A UN human rights expert today called on the Liberian Government to promptly investigate a series of killings that have occurred this year, some of which have reportedly been linked to ritualistic practices.”
White told the subcommittee that his organization has received disturbing information about the frequency of such killings and the allegations linking it to the Executive Mansion (The Office of the President) and other high ranking government officials. Details of these atrocities, he said, are difficult to obtain.
“Sources advise the police are not allowed to investigate these matters or if they do, it is done superficially as to not get too close to those involved,” White told the Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations at a hearing on Tuesday, 19 September. “Also, because of the high-level links to the government it is taboo to say anything about it or otherwise you could be the next victim.”
White called on the U.S. government and global partners for the prosecution for these heinous crimes. “The killing must stop and hope your legislation can effect change and stop this madness once and for all,” he told the subcommittee.
White’s AFHR, a nonprofit organization, located in Washington, DC, USA, targets human rights violators, that engage in public corruption and seek justice and accountability for the victims of such atrocities. The group is also actively engaged in conducting investigations and compiling information about those individuals who are committing ritualistic killings, especially in Liberia.
In his testimony, White made specific references to the mysterious disappearance of three young men who were hired by Moses Ahossouhe, owner of the St. Moses Funeral Parlor in Monrovia, to undertake a task in Bong County; the high profile death of four auditors; as well as other mysterious deaths that took place in the country under the Weah administration.
On October 17, 2020, Robert M. Blamo, Jr, 29, Siafa Gbana Boimah, 34, and Bobby S. Gbeanquoi, 32, were reported drowned in a river in Fuamah District, lower Bong County, when a canoe they were allegedly riding capsized.
“The bodies of the three young men were retrieved by Ahoussouhe and never returned to the parents. He has close ties to the President and the government,” White told the committee. “And the Ministry of Justice has failed to provide an update or release the outcome of an investigative report on circumstances that led to the conclusion they drowned. Why didn’t they release the bodies to the family?”
The aggrieved families believed that their children are being kept in a sacred place to be used for alleged ‘ritualistic purposes’. The family members sought the assistance of the international community, including the US Embassy and the United Nations.”
Three of the most recent victims were either former officials or had links to high profile former politicians, he said. “Even a recent death of some young girls involved in political campaign event held by the CDC sparked outrage by the citizens and allegations their deaths were done for ritualistic reasons,” he said while referencing the headline of a local newspaper which said: Citizens to President Weah: ‘No ritual can help you from leaving office after the elections.’
White noted that the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration during her 12 years (2006-2018) in office was plagued with ritual killings and despite vows to bring them to an end they continued. “The same problems continue under the Weah administration and, unlike Sirleaf, there were no insiders reporting her direct involvement with the ritual killings,” he said.
Over the past 20 years White has been actively engaged in seeking justice and accountability for victims of human rights violations and conducting criminal investigations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Africa, most specifically West Africa. From July 2002-July 2005, he was detailed to the United Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone located in Freetown, Sierra Leone West Africa where he served as the Chief of Investigations.
“As Chief of Investigations of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, I directed all criminal investigations which led to numerous indictments and convictions, most notably was former Liberian President Charles Taylor who was the first sitting Head of State to be indicted and convicted for war crimes and continues to serve his 50 year prison sentence.”
White was one of four witnesses who testified during the hearing on the theme: “Efforts to Address Ritual Abuse and Sacrifice in Africa” on Tuesday, September 19, 2023. The others were Obed Byamugisha, Program Advisor, Kyampisi Childcare Ministries; Miriam Fullah, Trafficking in Persons Protection Manager, World Hope International; and Josephine Aparo, Founding Member, Global Survivor Network and International Justice Mission.
He applauded the work of the Subcommittee and its members, noting that his organization will continue to work on the issues. “We hope that this Hearing will shed a very bright light on a very dark issue plaguing many African countries and especially Liberia, who experienced this despicable crime against humanity during war and peace, yet it doesn’t stop,” he said.
His testimony to the U.S. House Subcommittee is the latest deposit in a trove of numerous reports with claims of crime and corruption on the part of the Weah administration. So far, some of these claims have resulted in sanctions against three of Weah’s top lieutenants — former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill; former Solicitor General, Cllr. Saymah Syrenius Cephus; and former Managing Director of the National Port Authority, Bill Twehway.
Yet, amid the U.S. sanctions, the three individuals continue to wield influence across the country — especially during the current election period, as Both McGill and Twehway are splurging cash to gain favor with voters in order to be elected to legislative office come October 10.
Dr. White’s hope that the U.S. Congress’ “… legislation can effect change and stop this madness once and for all,” might resonate with many Liberians at home and abroad, but the October 10 elections will be the litmus test of whether the critical mass of Liberians at home feel the same way about the state of affairs in their country.
Liberia: Dr. Alan White Highlights Ritualistic Killings in Liberia before U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee; Links Immediate Past and Current Government
Published: September 20, 2023 By: Lennart Dodoo – Front Page Africa, Liberia
Washington, D.C. – Dr. Alan W. White, Co-Executive Director of the Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights, delivered a compelling testimony before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, addressing the pressing issue of ritualistic killings in Africa, with a particular focus on Liberia. Dr. White shed light on the Foundation’s mission to combat human rights violations, including ritualistic killings and the alarming allegations linking these acts to high-ranking government officials, including the Executive Mansion.
The Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., has been dedicated to targeting human rights violators, exposing public corruption, and advocating for justice and accountability for the victims of such atrocities.
Others who testified before the Committee headed by Congressman Chris Smith Obed Byamugisha, Program Advisor, Kyampisi Childcare Ministries; Miriam Fullah, Trafficking in Persons Protection Manager, World Hope International; Josephine Aparo Founding Member, Global Survivor Network and International Justice Mission.
In his testimony, Dr. White detailed the challenges faced in gathering information and conducting investigations into ritualistic killings, emphasizing the danger faced by sources who dare to speak out against these crimes.
Dr. White’s credentials as Chief of Investigations for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he directed criminal investigations leading to numerous indictments and convictions, lent significant weight to his testimony. He notably highlighted the conviction of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, the first sitting Head of State to be indicted and convicted for war crimes, serving a 50-year prison sentence.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone was established to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the devastating civil war in Sierra Leone, spanning from 1991 to 2002, which resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 people. Dr. White’s investigations led him to neighboring Liberia, which also experienced two brutal civil wars, resulting in the deaths of over 250,000 Liberians.
During his tenure as Chief of Investigations, Dr. White bore witness to unspeakable human rights violations perpetrated through ritualistic activities, a phenomenon he had not encountered before. He recounted a chilling story from 2002, where a 70-year-old man seeking a political position in a local Village, believed in black magic and sacrificed a 9-year-old boy to gain power. This horrifying act shed light on the prevalence of ritualistic killings in West Africa, where individuals commission murders to obtain body parts for magic spells and gain political power.
The Foundation has received disturbing information about the frequency of such killings and the allegations linking it to the Executive Mansion (The Office of the President) and other high-ranking government officials. Details of these atrocities are difficult to obtain.
Dr. Alan W. White, Co-Executive Director of the Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights
Dr. White’s testimony revealed the widespread practice of ritualistic killings during Sierra Leone’s civil war, with various rebel groups and warring factions, such as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and the Civil Defense Force (CDF), routinely engaging in such acts. He described how rebels would boast about consuming the organs of their victims, believing it granted them supernatural power.
Importantly, Dr. White highlighted that ritual killings persist in Sierra Leone today, often escalating during election periods when some politicians believe they can gain power through human sacrifices. These alarming practices have also been reported in Liberia, where ritualistic killings are a combination of traditional beliefs and the criminal behavior of unscrupulous politicians.
Liberia has a history of ritualistic killings during its civil wars, with figures like Milton Blahyi, also known as ‘General Butt Naked’, publicly admitting to eating children’s hearts and taking part in human sacrifices to ensure victory in battle.
Dr. White’s testimony also touched upon recent cases of ritualistic killings in Liberia, such as the mysterious disappearance of three young men hired for a task in Bong County in October 2020 by the St. Moses Funeral Home. The bodies of these young men were never returned to their families, and investigations into their deaths remain unresolved, raising suspicions of involvement by influential individuals with close government ties.
“The Foundation has received disturbing information about the frequency of such killings and the allegations linking it to the Executive Mansion (The Office of the President) and other high-ranking government officials. Details of these atrocities are difficult to obtain,” he said.
He also linked the past regime to acts of ritualistic killings, saying “The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration during her 12 years (2006-2018) in office was plagued with ritual killings and despite vows to bring them to an end they continued. The same problems continue under the Weah administration and unlike Sirleaf there were no insiders reporting her direct involvement with the ritual killings.”
Dr. White commended the Subcommittee for its work and called for a thorough examination of the issue of ritualistic killings in Africa, especially in Liberia. He urged legislation that could bring an end to these heinous crimes, emphasizing the importance of exposing those involved and prosecuting them for their actions. The Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights remains committed to addressing this dark issue plaguing many African countries and hopes that the Subcommittee’s efforts will help put an end to these atrocities once and for all.
— Dr. Alan White asks U.S. for prosecution of those in ritualistic killings in Liberia
Published: September 20, 2023 By: New Dawn, Liberia
The U.N. former chief investigator for the special court of Sierra Leone, Dr. Alan White is requesting prosecution for ritualistic killings and despicable crimes against humanity in Liberia during war and in peace, saying “the killings must stop.”
Dr. Alan briefed U.S. lawmakers in Washington Tuesday, 19 September 2023, giving historical accounts of recent killings and those carried out during Liberia’s civil war for ritualistic purposes.
“Those involved need to be exposed and prosecuted for these heinous crimes. The killings must stop, and we hope that through legislature can effect change and stop this madness once and for all,” said Dr. White.
Dr. White indicated that former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s administration was plagued with ritualistic killings, and the same problem continues under incumbent President George Manneh Weah’s administration.
Unlike Sirleaf’s administration, Dr. White said, there was no insider reporting on her direct involvement on ritualistic killings.
However, he said he has received information that President Weah’s administration is being linked to the ritualistic killings of children.
He said sources have revealed that the police are only allowed to investigate these matters in a conspicuous but very superficial manner.
Dr. White explained that notable of these cases is the incident involving victims Robert Blamo, Jr., 29, Siafa Boimah, 33 and Blama, who went missing after being hired by St. Moses Funeral Parlor proprietor Mr. Moses Ahoussouhe to undertake a contract in Bong Mines.
Mr. Ahoussouhe was accused of hiring the three men on Saturday, 15 October 2020 to travel to Bong Mines to do technical work for him at his diamond creek when all three of them went missing. They were alleged to have drowned when a canoe they were riding in had capsized.
Dr. White said Ahoussouhe (St. Moses) retrieved the bodies of the three young men but they were never returned to their parents.
“He has close ties with the president and the Government of Liberia, and through the Ministry of Justice, he has contact as well. They failed to provide update or release the outcome of the investigation or report on the circumstances that led to the conclusion [that] they drowned,” said Dr. White.
Dr. White indicated that the aggrieved families believe that their children are being kept in a secret place to be used for ritualistic purposes.
He said the family members sought the assistance of the international community including the U.S. Embassy and the United Nations, leading the UN to call on the Liberian government to investigate killings which had been reported to link to ritual practice.
In 2021 alone, Dr. White said at least ten people were killed, reportedly linked to ritualistic killing or political motivation.
He added that they were either former officials or had links to former politicians. White noted that recent deaths involving some girls during President George Manneh Weah’s 2023 political campaign outraged the citizens.
He said the allegation is that the killings were done for ritualistic reasons. He also referenced citizens’ message to President Weah which was carried in the NewDawn newspaper’s headline that no amount of money or rituals can help President Weah and his Coalition for Democratic Change from leaving office after the 10 October 2023 elections.
Dr. White said his organization will continue to work on these issues in African countries, especially Liberia which experiences despicable crimes against humanity during war and in peace.
He recalled that during the 14 years civil war in Liberia, there were so many cases where gunmen, some of them child soldiers, ate victims’ body parts.
He stated that it was well documented that during Liberia’s civil war, ritualistic killing was a common place, naming Gen. Butt Naked, now Evangelist Milton Blayee as of the notorious culprits.
According to Dr. White, Mr. Blayee testified before Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that he ate children’s hearts.
He said Blayee indicated that human sacrifices were intended to ensure victories in battles.
Full text of the Testimony Submitted to The Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations – “Efforts to Address Ritual Abuse and Sacrifice in Africa” – September 19, 2023 – 10:00 a.m. Statement of Dr. Alan W. White, Co-Executive Director – Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights – Washington, D.C. and Founding Chief of Investigations of the United Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.
First of all I would like to the thank Chairman Congressman Chris Smith and Ranking Member Congresswoman Susan Wild, of the U.S. House of Representatives Global Health, Global Human Rights, International Organizations and other members of this Subcommittee for holding this very important hearing. I also want to publicly commend Congressman Smith for his tireless and unwavering efforts in seeking justice and accountability for countless victims of human rights violations from around the Globe. You provide a voice that otherwise would go unheard and a platform to those victims, who have suffered and continue to suffer with no one to turn to. Your steadfast support is globally recognized and very much needed in these troubled times we live in, and where so many atrocities are being committed around the world.
I am the Co-Executive Director for the Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights, a non- profit organization, located in Washington, DC. The Advocacy Foundation for Human Rights targets human rights violators, that engaged in public corruption and justice and accountability for the victims of such atrocities. We are actively engaged in conducting investigations and compiling information about those individuals who are committing ritualistic killings, especially in Liberia. The Foundation has received disturbing information about the frequency of such killings and the allegations linking it to the Executive Mansion (The Office of the President) and other high-ranking government officials. Details of these atrocities are difficult to obtain.
Sources to the Foundation are endangered just by speaking out – and I will discuss this later in my testimony.
Over the past 20 years I have been actively engaged in seeking justice and accountability for victims of human rights violations and conducting criminal investigations of war crimes and crimes against humanity on the continent of Africa, most specifically West Africa. During my last 3 years of Federal Law Enforcement service from July 2002-July 2005, I was detailed to the United Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone located in Freetown, Sierra Leone West Africa where I served as the Chief of Investigations. As Chief of Investigations of the Special Court for Sierra Leone I directed all criminal investigations which led to numerous indictments and convictions, most notably was former Liberian President Charles Taylor who was the first sitting Head of State to be indicted and convicted for war crimes and continues to serve his 50 year prison sentence.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone was established to investigate and prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibilty for the civil war in Sierra Leone, which lasted from March 1991 to January 2002 and resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 people. Our investigations led us to neighboring Liberia which had suffered two civil wars, the first from December 1989 to August 1997 and then again in 1999 to 2003 where over 250,000 Liberians were killed.
While serving as the Chief of Investigations I witnessed and investigated some of the most horrific and unspeakable human rights violations no one could ever imagine that someone could inflict on another human being. The horrors of civil war are always tragic, however, to see those involved in the commission of killing and torturing another human being by engaging in ritualistic activities was something I had not seen before and quite frankly prepared to deal with. Yet shortly after I arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone I recall in August 2002 a news story where a 70-year-old man seeking to become a Paramount Chief of a local Village, a political position in traditional system of local government and an integral element of governance, was convicted of a ritualistic killing. I learned quickly that ritualistic killings were common place, particularly in West Africa. This story reported the man seeking to become a Paramount Chief believed in black magic and in order to get elected he needed to sacrifice a young child and in this case he bought a 9-year old boy for 800,000 leones ($160) from a family desperate for money.
Reportedly he gruesomely killed the 9-year-old boy by slitting his throat and removing his liver and taking some blood to local witch doctors in the neighboring country of Guinea where they would use in making a liquid concoction he could drink and give him what is known as “Juju”. This was a term I learned later meant power and used in ritualistic killings by rebels fighting in the civil wars, both in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Suprisingly, I learned that ritual killings or human sacrifices to local deities were customary in parts of West Africa, where some people commission killings to obtain body parts for magic spells to gain political power and influence.
Early on during my criminal investigations of war crimes and crimes against in Sierra Leone I heard routinely about ritualistic killings involving the various rebel group and warring factions in Sierra Leone, which included the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the Civil Defense Force (CDF).
The war started in Kailahun, so we started our investigations in that part of the country where we uncovered numerous mass graves and in most cases the victims were civilians, including children. Their identities were mostly unknown, although some names were given. However, our witness interviews revealed that the RUF or RUF/AFRC were identified as the alleged perpetrator.
There were several causes of death of the victims reported including they were locked in houses and burnt, “ritual human sacrifice for protection” and gunshot and knife wounds. One of the witnesses interviews I recall involved a female RUF ex-child combatant, who advised that ritual killings were routinely practiced on enemy fighters or on civilians, including children. Sadly, the rebels from the various warring factions would boast about killing their enemy, many of which were young child soldiers, and eating their heart, drinking their blood, or eating other body parts claiming they received extra power from doing so.
This practice continues today in Sierra Leone and surges during election periods where people running for office believe that sacrificing a person, mostly younger boys and girls because it is believed the younger they are, the more power they get. The Voice of America (VOA) in Freetown in 2012 reported on the so-called ritual murders during election time and have been a part of African society for centuries. “In Sierra Leone, some believe ritual murders increase during election time because some politicians think they will gain political power from another human’s body parts.”
Chief Minister, NaCSA Boss Indicted in Attempted Ritual Murder of Virgins Girls in Freetown (sierraloaded.sl)
In October 2021 a senior government official, who reported to the President of Sierra Leone was indicted for an attempted ritual murder of six “Virgin Girls” in Freetown. The Chief Minister in Sierra Leone has been accused of forcing a primary school teacher to kidnap six virgin schoolgirls for ritualistic purposes. Fortunately, the plot was foiled when one of the whistleblowers came forward and reported it to the police which led to the Chief Minister’s arrest and indictment. However, reportedly he was released from custody while the investigation continued and to date no prosecution has occurred.
Dr Fred P.M. VAN DER KRAAIJ, author of a blog known as liberiapastandpresent.org, who lived and worked in Liberia as an Economist has chronicled a number of the ritualistic killings and other significant events in Liberia. In one of his blogs, he writes — “Today’s practice of ritual killings in Liberia – because it still exists! – mainly is a combination of traditional beliefs which inspire men-eating and modern-day criminal behavior of unscrupulous politicians who consider their ambitions worth more than the life of their victims. During the 14-year civil war (1989-2003) there were so many cases of gunmen – some of them child soldiers – eating their victim’s hearts and other body parts that the Catholic Church issued a formal denunciation of these practices (Stephen Ellis, The Mask of Anarchy, 1999: dust jacket). Liberia.”
It is well documented that during the civil wars in Liberia that ritual killings were commonplace and one of the most notorious rebels engaged in such horrific acts, is Milton Blahyi aka General Butt Naked, a feared former Rebel Commander who fought in the Liberian civil war. He testified before the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) where he publicly stated “I ate children’s hearts,” and admitted to taking part in human sacrifices as part of traditional ceremonies intended to ensure victory in battle. He also told BBC that his forces his forces had killed over 20,000 people.
During the first civil war (1989-1996) there were also other reports about Charles Taylor and his rebels accounts reportedly the formation of a group of cannibals called Top 20 of which he was a member. Reportedly the group, comprised of Taylor and 16 rebels of his own army known as the National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NPFL) engaged in human sacrifices at Taylor’s house.
On December 10, 2004, BBC publicly reported Hundreds of Liberian women had taken to the streets of the capital, Monrovia, protested against a recent wave of ritual killings. Bodies of children had been found with some of their organs missing, taken for what are viewed as magical properties. These killings were reportedly linked to politicians and the wealthy, who many believe to pay for the murders to increase their chances of good fortune.
There were other media reports documenting, including the Analyst, the discovery of the bodies of two unidentified children around the Du River area. One of the victims was a girl believed to be 12 years old. The media reports quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the body was discovered with “fresh blood coming from its mouth and nose.”
The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration during her 12 years (2006-2018) in office was plagued with ritual killings and despite vows to bring them to an end they continued. The same problems continue under the Weah administration and unlike Sirleaf there were no insiders reporting her direct involvement with the ritual killings. However, we have received information that current administration has been linked to ritualistic killings of children. Sources advise the police are not allowed to investigate these matters or if they do, it is done superficially as to not get to close to those involved. Also, because of the high-level links to the government it is taboo to say anything about it or otherwise you could be the next victim.
One of the most notable allegations of ritualistic killings involve the mysterious disappearance of three young men who were hired by the Proprietor of the St. Moses Funeral Parlor to undertake a task in Bong County. On October 17, 2020, Robert M. Blamo, Jr, 29, Siafa Gbana Boimah, 34, and Bobby S. Gbeanquoi, 32, were reported drowned in a river in Fuama district, lower Bong County when a canoe they were allegedly riding capsized while returning to their respective homes. They were reportedly contracted to do a, “piece of job” at the Oriental mining company owned and operated by Mr. Moses H. Ahossouhe (Proprietor of St. Moses Funeral Parlour), and one Mr. Abraham S. Samuels. It was reported by Mr. Ahoussouhe that the three young men drowned. The bodies were retrieved by Mr. Ahoussouhe and never returned to the parents. He has close ties to the President and the Government of Liberia (GOL), through the Ministry of Justice has failed to provide an update or release the outcome of an investigative report on circumstances that led to the conclusion they drowned. Why didn’t they release the bodies to the family?
The aggrieved families believed that their children are being kept in a sacred place to be used for alleged “ritualistic purposes.” The family members sought the assistance of the international community, including the US Embassy and the United Nations.
On December 10, 2021, the United Nations issued a public statement –“ A UN human rights expert today called on the Liberian Government to promptly investigate a series of killings that have occurred this year, some of which have reportedly been linked to ritualistic practices.”
At least 10 people have been killed in unclear circumstances in 2021, including five in September reportedly with suspected links to ritualistic practices or political motivations. According to information received by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, three of the most recent victims were either former officials or had links to high profile former politicians.
Even a recent death of some young girls involved in political campaign event held by the CDC sparked outrage by the citizens and allegations their deaths were done for ritualistic reasons. The local headlines read – Liberia – Citizens to President Weah: ‘No ritual can help you from leaving office after the elections.’
On August 24, 2023, the New Dawn News reported Several residents of Montserrado County have told incumbent President George Manneh Weah that no amount of alleged human sacrifice, ritual, and money can prevent him and the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) from leaving office.
“We want to tell President Weah that no amount of human sacrifice, ritual, and money can help in this election,” potential voters said in Montserrado County.”
The foundation will continue to work on this issue and applauds the work of this Subcommittee and its members. We hope that this Hearing will shed a very bright light on a very dark issue plaguing many African countries and especially Liberia who experienced this despicable crime against humanity during war and peace, yet it doesn’t stop. Those involved need to be exposed and prosecuted for these heinous crimes. The killing must stop and hope your legislation can effect change and stop this madness once and for all.
Although not the main focus of this website I find it useful and necessary to draw attention to this phenomenon which is based on superstition, violates human rights and creates many innocent victims – not only elderly women and men but also children, just like ritual murders.
I wish to commend Charlotte Müller and Sertan Sanderson of DW (Deutsche Welle) – see below – for an excellent article on this topic. It’s an impressive account of what happens to people accused of witchcraft and victims sof superstition. (FVDK)
World Day Against Witch Hunts: People With Dementia Are Not Witches
Witch camps in Ghana
Published: August 4, 2023 By: The Ghana Report
August 10 has been designated World Day against Witch Hunts. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches welcomes this development and urges countries to mark this important day, and try to highlight past and contemporary sufferings and abuses of alleged witches in different parts of the globe.
Witchcraft belief is a silent killer of persons. Witchcraft accusation is a form of death sentence in many places. People suspected of witchcraft, especially women and children, are banished, persecuted, and murdered in over 40 countries across the globe. Unfortunately, this tragic incident has not been given the attention it deserves.
Considered a thing of the past in Western countries, this vicious phenomenon has been minimized. Witch persecution is not treated with urgency. It is not considered a global priority. Meanwhile, witch hunting rages across Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
The misconceptions that characterized witch hunting in early modern Europe have not disappeared. Witchcraft imaginaries and other superstitions still grip the minds of people with force and ferocity. Reinforced by traditional, Christian, Islamic, and Hindu religious dogmas, occult fears and anxieties are widespread.
Many people make sense of death, illness, and other misfortunes using the narratives of witchcraft and malevolent magic. Witch hunters operate with impunity in many countries, including nations with criminal provisions against witchcraft accusations and jungle justice.
Some of the people who are often accused and targeted as witches are elderly persons, especially those with dementia.
To help draw attention to this problem, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches has chosen to focus on dementia for this year’s World Day against Witch Hunts. People with dementia experience memory loss, poor judgment, and confusion.
Their thinking and problem-solving abilities are impaired. Unfortunately, these health issues are misunderstood and misinterpreted. Hence, some people treat those with dementia with fear, not respect. They spiritualize these health conditions, and associate them with witchcraft and demons.
There have been instances where people with dementia left their homes or care centers, and were unable to return or recall their home addresses. People claimed that they were returning from witchcraft meetings; that they crash landed on their way to their occult gatherings while flying over churches or electric poles.
Imagine that! People forge absurd and incomprehensible narratives to justify the abuse of people with dementia. Sometimes, people claim that those suffering dementia turn into cats, birds, or dogs. As a result of these misconceptions, people maltreat persons with dementia without mercy; they attack, beat, and lynch them. Family members abandon them and make them suffer painful and miserable deaths. AfAW urges the public to stop these abuses, and treat people with dementia with care and compassion.
Accusations of witchcraft typically affect the most vulnerable — such as this refugee living in the DRC Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Scoppa
Published: August 10, 2023 By: Charlotte Müller | Sertan Sanderson – DW
Witch hunts are far from being a thing of the past — even in the 21st century. In many countries, this is still a sad reality for many women today. That is why August 10 has been declared a World Day against Witch Hunts.
Akua Denteh was beaten to death in Ghana’s East Gonja District last month — after being accused of being a witch. The murder of the 90-year-old has once more highlighted the deep-seated prejudices against women accused of practicing witchcraft in Ghana, many of whom are elderly.
An arrest was made in early August, but the issue continues to draw attention after authorities were accused of dragging their heels in the case. Human rights and gender activists now demand to see change in culture in a country where supernatural beliefs play a big role.
But the case of Akua Denteh is far from an isolated instance in Ghana, or indeed the world at large. In many countries of the world, women are still accused of practicing witchcraft each year. They are persecuted and even killed in organized witch hunts — especially in Africa but also in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Many women in Ghana are pushed to live in so-called witch camps because they are rejected by society Image: picture-alliance/Pacific Press/L. Wateridge
Witch hunts: a contemporary issue
Those accused of witchcraft have now found a perhaps unlikely charity ally in their fight for justice: the Catholic missionary society missio, which is part of the global Pontifical Mission Societies under the jurisdiction of the Pope, has declared August 10 as World Day against Witch Hunts, saying that in at least 36 nations around the world, people continue to be persecuted as witches.
While the Catholic Church encouraged witch hunts in Europe from the 15th to the 18th century, it is now trying to shed light into this dark practice. Part of this might be a sense of historical obligation — but the real driving force is the number of victims that witch hunts still cost today.
Historian Wolfgang Behringer, who works as a professor specializing in the early modern age at Saarland University, firmly believes in putting the numbers in perspective. He told DW that during these three centuries, between 50,000 and 60,000 people are assumed to have been killed for so-called crimes of witchcraft — a tally that is close to being twice the population of some major German cities at the time.
But he says that in the 20th century alone, more people accused of witchcraft were brutally murdered than during the three centuries when witch hunts were practiced in Europe: “Between 1960 and 2000, about 40,000 people alleged of practicing witchcraft were murdered in Tanzania alone. While there are no laws against witchcraft as such in Tanzanian law, village tribunals often decide that certain individuals should be killed,” Behringer told DW.
The historian insists that due to the collective decision-making behind these tribunals, such murders are far from being arbitrary and isolated cases: “I’ve therefore concluded that witch hunts are not a historic problem but a burning issue that still exists in the present.”
A picture of so-called witch doctors in Sierra Leone taken roughly around the year 1900 Image: Getty Images/Hulton Archive
A pan-African problem?
In Tanzania, the victims of these witch hunts are often people with albinism; some people believe that the body parts of these individuals can be used to extract potions against all sorts of ailments. Similar practices are known to take place in Zambia and elsewhere on the continent.
Meanwhile in Ghana, where nonagenarian Akua Denteh was bludgeoned to death last month, certain communities blamed the birth of children with disabilities on practices of witchcraft.
Screenshot – to watch the video please consult the source
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is usually the younger generations who are associated witchcraft. So-called “children of witchcraft” are usually rejected by their families and left to fend for themselves. However, their so-called crimes often have little to do with sorcery at all:
“We have learned of numerous cases of children suffering rape and then no longer being accepted by their families. Or they are born as illegitimate children out of wedlock, and are forced to live with a parent who no longer accepts them,” says Thérèse Mema Mapenzi, who works as a mission project partner in the eastern DRC city of Bukayu.
‘Children of witchcraft’ in the DRC
Mapenzi’s facility was initially intended to be a women’s shelter to harbor women who suffered rape at the hands of the militia in the eastern parts of the country, where rape is used as a weapon of war as part of the civil conflict there. But over the years, more and more children started seeking her help after they were rejected as “children of witchcraft.”
With assistance from the Catholic missionary society missio, Mapenzi is now also supporting these underage individuals in coping with their many traumas while trying to find orphanages and schools for them.
“When these children come here, they have often been beaten to a pulp, have been branded as witches or have suffered other injuries. It is painful to just even look at them. We are always shocked to see these children devoid of any protection. How can this be?” Mapenzi wonders.
Thérèse Mema Mapenzi is trying to help women and girls accused of being “children of witchcraft” Image: missio
Seeking dialogue to end witch hunts
But there is a whole social infrastructure fueling this hatred against these young people in the DRC: Many charismatic churches blame diseases such as HIV/AIDS or female infertility on witchcraft, with illegitimate children serving as scapegoats for problems that cannot be easily solved in one of the poorest countries on earth. Other reasons cited include sudden deaths, crop failures, greed, jealousy and more.
Thérèse Mema Mapenzi says that trying to help those on the receiving end of this ire is a difficult task, especially in the absence of legal protection: “In Congolese law, witchcraft is not recognized as a violation of the law because there is no evidence you can produce. Unfortunately, the people have therefore developed their own legal practices to seek retribution and punish those whom call them witches.”
In addition to helping those escaping persecution, Mapenzi also seeks dialogue with communities to stop prejudice against those accused of witchcraft and sorcery. She wants to bring estranged families torn apart by witch hunts back together. Acting as a mediator, she talks to people, and from time to time succeeds in reuniting relatives with women and children who had been ostracized and shamed. Mapenzi says that such efforts — when they succeed — take an average of two to three years from beginning to finish.
But even with a residual risk of the victims being suspected of witchcraft again, she says her endeavors are worth the risk. She says that the fact that August 10 has been recognized as the World Day against Witch Hunts sends a signal that her work is important — and needed.
Hunting the hunters — a dangerous undertaking
For Thérèse Mema Mapenzi, the World Day against Witch Hunts marks another milestone in her uphill battle in the DRC. Jörg Nowak, spokesman for missio, agrees and hopes that there will now be growing awareness about this issue around the globe.
As part of his work, Nowak has visited several missio project partners fighting to help bring an end to witch hunts in recent years. But he wasn’t aware about the magnitude of the problem himself until 2017.
The first case he dealt with was the killing of women accused of being witches in Papua New Guinea in the 2010s — which eventually resulted in his publishing a paper on the crisis situation in the country and becoming missio’s dedicated expert on witch hunts.
But much of Nowak’s extensive research in Papua New Guinea remains largely under wraps for the time being, at least in the country itself: the evidence he accrued against some of the perpetrators there could risk the lives of missio partners working for him.
Not much has changed for centuries, apart from the localities involved when it comes to the occult belief in witchcraft, says Nowak while stressing: “There is no such thing as witchcraft. But there are accusations and stigmatization designed to demonize people; indeed designed to discredit them in order for others to gain selfish advantages.”
Maxwell Suuk and Isaac Kaledzi contributed to this article.
Screenshot – to watch the seven images please consult the source
As I have repeatedly stated on this site, Nigeria is most likely the African country where most ritualistic murders are taking place, not in the least because with 200 million people the West African nation is Africa’s most populated country.
Security, or rather insecurity, is one of Nigeria’s biggest problems. Not a day passes without prominent politicians, ordinary citizens, civil society organizations and newspaper editors and journalists complaining about the present situation. The three main manifestations of insecurity, terrorism and the resulting fear relate to Boko Haram, kidnappings by bandits who demand ransoms for their hostages, and – unfortunately, also ritual murders, locally known as ‘money rituals’: killing, rather slaughtering, of innocent people by unscrupulous people who believe his will result in more power, prestige, wealth or a better health. Superstition based on greed and ignorance.
Notably the southern states are notorious for their ritualistic murders, but these days also the people in Taraba State, in North Eastern Nigeria, and in particular in the – with 120,000 inhabitants relatively small – state capital Jalingo, who live in fear following a wave of ritualistic murders and missing persons.
it is nearly impossible to include on this site all ritual murder cases which are brought to light in Nigeria. Over the last few months I have been confronted with tens of murder cases, in a large number of states, which I have not included on this site. I may present a summary in the near future.
For the time being I bring this particular case, in Taraba State, to your attention. It is noteworthy that there are over 40 different tribes and languages in Taraba State which all have a rich culture and history. After all, a friend who knows the country very well once described Nigeria to me as ‘a nice set of countries’.
If you wish to read more about Taraba State, which lies largely in the middle of Nigeria, please click this link. (webmaster FVDK).
Fear has gripped residents of Jalingo following an increase of cases of missing persons which is linked to ritual killings.
Areas worse affected, according to sources, include roads leading to Jalingo main market, Karofi area to Baba Yau and ATC.
North East Trust’s finding revealed that incidents of missing persons started a few months ago and it worsened in September and October.
Dead bodies of some of those that got missing were found with part of their bodies removed while several others are yet to be found.
One of the victims, Sulei Musa Kantiyel, who resided at Jauro Boto in the Jalingo metropolis was said to have left his house at about 10 pm on September 15 and two days later his corpse was found on a maize farm along Mile Six Road with many parts of his body removed.
Another person, Husseini Maigari of Anguwan Baraya also got missing on September 17 and he is yet to be traced.
North East Trust also gathered that an elderly woman who disappeared between Jalingo main market to Kasuwan Yelwa is also yet to be found.
Similarly, the dead bodies of three persons including two women were said to have been found with parts of their bodies removed in two locations in Jalingo recently.
Further findings revealed that the children of one Ibrahim Maigini, who got missing from their house at Tudun Wada were lucky to be found alive at a military checkpoint on the outskirt of Jalingo.
Their father, lbrahim, told our reporter that he received a call from his wife that their children, aged 10 and 11, were missing.
He said it was at about 5 pm the photos of the two missing boys were posted at one of the checkpoints requesting for their parents to come and claim them.
It was learnt that the ritualists use tricycles and private cars to perpetrate their crime both during the day and night.
Some residents who spoke to our correspondent on the issue said nobody is safe in the town because the ritualists are targeting both children and the elderly and operating in many parts of the town.
One of the residents, Mallam Sani Saidu said security agents and the community should work closely to address the situation.
The state Chairman of Commercial Motorcycles Operators, Abdullahi Bello, told North East Trust that he was aware of the complaints that some of his members were being used by some of the criminals behind the missing persons.
He said the association has put in place measures to address the issue.
He said part of the measures include suspension of operations by all members at 9 pm and violators would be arrested and prosecuted.
The police spokesman, DSP Abdullahi Usman, said from his finding, the command has not received any case of missing persons within the metropolis.
“Rumors have it that there are series of such cases” the PPRO said.
Ritualistic activities and ritual murders seem to be on the rise in Ghana. Yesterday I referred to some recent cases. However, ritual killings are nothing new in this West African country, as the Ghana Web article of August 29 (presented below) illustrates.
I have reported earlier on ritual murders in Ghana, covering the 2006 – 2012 period, with more than 30 reported ritual murders between 2006 and 2012, and also including a ritual murder case dating back as far as 1944. And, of course, one of the most notorious ritual murder cases in recent times is the Kasoa murder case.
Regrettably, most links to the articles on ritual murders of the 2006-2012 period (referred to above) have disappeared. It is for this reason that I’ve changed methods on the present site where I am including an exact copy of the articles mentioned reporting ritual murder cases (‘copy-paste’). In respect of the source used I am always including a reference to the source and the author of the article(s).
Soon more developments in the ongoing trial of the accused ritual murderers in the Kasoa ritual murder case, two teenagers (webmaster FVDK).
Ritual killings for human parts: these cases have shaken Ghana since the 1980s
Dr. Beckley was notorious for being involved in many ritual killings
Published: August 29, 2021 By: Ghana Web
The 1980s killings:
Charles Ebo Quansah, The Strangler The following two sections report on a notorious serial killer and not on ritual murders and have for this reason been deleted by the webmaster (FVDK).
History of Dr. Beckley – The occultist who sent fears down the spine of everyone in Ghana Screenshot. You may watch the video on YouTube by clicking here
More on these ritual killings in tomorrow’s posting (FVDK).
Kasoa, formerly known as Odupongkpehe, is a coastal town in the Awutu Senya East Municipal District of the Central Region in Ghana. Reportedly, Odupongkpehe/Kasoa is one of the fastest growing communities in West Africa. In 1970, Odupongkpehe/Kasoa was a rural community. Since then, its population has multiplied nearly hundred times.
The clash between tradition and modernization may – partly – explain what recently happened in this fast growing urban community. Two teenagers were apprehended and accused of murdering a ten-year old child for ritualistic purposes after being requested by a fetish priest in the Volta Region who told the two suspects to bring human parts for rituals. It is not known what has happened with the fetish priest.
The law must take its course. However, society must reflect upon this heinous crime committed by two adolescents who, very likely, did not grow up in the tradition of a rural or village community. How could this happen? What is the role and responsibility of the parents? Have the two suspects been to school, what have the teachers taught them?
Maybe too many questions for the moment, but urgent reflection and action is required to avoid a repetition of this gruesome ritualistic act (webmaster FVDK).
Kasoa: Two teenagers arrested over alleged ritual murder of 10-year-old
Published: April 4, 2021 By: Modern Ghana
Two persons, an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old are in the custody of the Kasoa Divisional Police Command for allegedly killing a 10-year-old boy for money rituals at Lamptey Mills, a suburb of Kasoa.
According to sources the suspects lured the deceased, only known as Ishmael by his peers, into an uncompleted building and hit him with an object, killing him instantly.
There are claims that a fetish priest in the Volta Region told the two suspects to bring human parts for rituals, hence the action of the pair.
The mother of the boy, Hajia Maame told Citi News that she is shocked by the news of her son’s demise.
The suspects are currently assisting in investigations.
Meanwhile, the Kasoa Divisional Police Command has so far not commented officially on the incident or the arrests.
During the past three days I have posted three articles related to the alarming rate of ritual killings in Nigeria, in 2014. The article below contains a similar cry for attention, but now in a 2017 article. In other words, there is no interruption in the occurrence of ritual murders in Nigeria, locally called ‘money rituals’. Moreover, also in November and December 2018 and February 2020 newspapers reported that ritual killing was rampant in Nigeria. In other words, nothing has changed over the years.
This means that ritual murders are a structural problem in the Nigerian society and that both the federal government and the government of the individual states repeatedly and continuously fail to protect their citizens, which is a ****** shame. Governments have an obligation to protect the population, notably the most vulnerable, and to arrest, try and punish perpetrators of heinous crimes.
Warning: the following contains a graphic description of ritualistic acts and murders (webmaster FVDK).
NB This article was posted before, on May 24, 2018.
Why killings for rituals are on the increase in Nigeria
Published: September 2, 2017 By: Vanguard, Nigeria – Evelyn Usman
…‘Human parts for sale’
The spate of killings for ritual purposes is gradually assuming an alarming rate in Nigeria with little or no effort by concerned government agencies to checkmate the trend.
One would have expected such pseudoscience acts to be a thing of the past going by increase in religious activities and in civilization. But murdering people to appease the deities appears to be on the increase.
Ritual den
These dastardly acts are carried out in a 21 st century, when other countries of the world are experimenting and advancing in technology.
It is also shocking to know that some acclaimed high and mighty indulge in ritual killings. For instance, some politicians and government officials have been accused by arrested suspects and herbalists who allege that they use human beings for rituals in order to sustain their affluence as well as remain in positions of power.
Investigations revealed that cases of ritual killings and disappearance of persons are usually high whenever elections are around the corner.
Just last week, this barbaric act assumed a cannibalistic dimension following the arrest of a suspected kidnapper alleged to have killed one of his victims and used his intestines to prepare pepper soup.
The suspect, Roland Peter, according to the Rivers State Commissioner of Police , Zaki Ahmed, abducted his victim from his house on August 2017, adding that the suspect was at the verge of eating pepper soup and yam porridge when the police swooped on him and some accomplices.
These vampires hide under different covers to get their victims. For some, they kidnap their victims from various points , while others who pretend to be commercial bus drivers, pick unsuspecting commuters at bus-stop only to take them to their slaughter slabs to carry out what they know how to do best.
Killings for money rituals
On August 17, 2017 , the lifeless body of the four-year-old girl was found close to a shrine at 28 Ogbe Close in Iwaya area of Lagos, with her throat slit. In her case , the toddler who strayed from her siblings’ watch, on their way from the mosque, was suspected to have been used for sacrifice on the Ogun shrine which ironically is built in the same compound with her parents . Till date perpetrators of the dastardly act are yet to be fished out.
A suspected ritualist
A week earlier, precisely August 20, another lifeless body of an eight-year-old girl, Chikamso Victory , was found in the apartment of one Ifeanyi Chukwu Dike (23) at Messiah street , Eliozu area of Port Harcourt. Helpless and defenseless Victory was not only abducted by Dike, she was raped before she was killed. As at the time her body was recovered, some parts had been removed. They included her vagina, eyes, tongue and breasts which the suspect kept in a polythene bag awaiting the appropriate time to take them to his contacts. He was however, arrested by members of a local vigilante group while going to dispose of the body. But the incident assumed a laughable dimension following report by the Police that the suspect had disappeared from custody.
Elsewhere in Oyo state, on March 30, 2017 , a suspected ritualist, Tunde Jimoh, who was arrested by the Police, gave a chilling description of how he and other members of his gang abducted their victim, Akintoye Oyeyemi, took him into a deep forest and murdered him in cold blood. Thereafter, they took the body to a Muslim cleric to prepare concoction for money rituals for him. At the end of the day, the wrists, heart and legs were cut off. Luck ran out on the suspect while on his way to dump the body in the bush.
Not too long ago, reports had it that an evil forest used as ritualists’ den was uncovered in Enugu state with the recovery of fresh and decomposing human parts. The nation’s Federal Capital Territory is not speared from the rising trend of killing for rituals. Late last year, a dismembered body of an unidentified lady was recovered at the Lower Usuma Dam junction, along Dutse-Bwari Road. One of her breasts was cut off, while the rest of the body was cut into two from the abdomen, an indication that the killing was for ritual.
Badoo ritual killing
In Lagos state, the commercial hub of the country, different methods are devised by ritualists. One of such was the surge in the killing of residents by members of a dreaded cult group identified as Badoo Boys in Ikorodu area of Lagos. So far, over 50 persons have had their lives snuffed out of them by the perpetrators who were initially thought to be invisible, until they were decimated by the Police , under the watch of the new Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr Edgar Imohimi, while he was the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations.
Ritualist den
Before the raid and subsequent arrest of over 200 suspected members of the cult group by the Police with the support of the Oodua peoples Congress, OPC local vigilante and the Neighborhood Watch Corps, Badoo Boys had been unleashing an orgy of killings, during which they used heavy stones to crush the skulls of their victims.
Their modus operandi included storming victims’ residences while they are asleep. It is suspected that they usually hypnotize their victims, as none of them had ever been conscious of their presence. They would, thereafter, smash heads of their victims with a grinding stone and after which they use a handkerchief to clean the blood and brain before leaving the scene.
During interrogation, one of the suspects confirmed that each handkerchief stained with blood was sold for N500,000 . He further revealed that they were mere errand boys for rich politicians within and outside Lagos state.
But in their case , the blood and semen stained handkerchief were used to prepare spiritual defence for well to do Nigerians.
Mad people in disguise
The latest method devised is the feigning of madness by these criminal elements. Recently in Lagos, some persons who disguised as lunatics were discovered to be using tunnels as dens for their activities. Two instances of note were along Lagos-Abeokuta road and Ile Zik, along Agege Motor road.
The latest was an uncovered ritualits’ den Wednesday , at Challege bus-stop , Mushin, where some suspected members who posed as lunatics were found with sophisticated phones, four ATM cards and over 100 syringes with blood stains.
One of the suspects was lynched by a mob while two others were rescued by policemen from Area ‘D’ command, Mushin.
Not too long Nigerians received with shock, news of a den in Soka village, Oluyole Local Government area of Oyo state, where about 20 corpses, majority of which were earlier declared missing by their relatives, were found while 18 victims were rescued. From all indications, it was obvious that the den had been existing for long before it was uncovered, following a heap of victims’ clothes.
One of the rescued victims was reported to have said he was kidnapped in Ogun while attending an interview. The most celebrated ritual killing appeared to be the notorious Otokoto saga in Owerri, Imo State where a businessman belonging to a cult was alleged to have used his apprentice for ritual. The boy’s corpse was later exhumed at the premises of Otokoto Hotel. It exposed many other bizarre acts in hotels.
Religious leaders also involved
One would have expected such primitive acts to be going down, going by the increasing religious groups in the country. Regrettably, some leaders of religious have been caught in the act. But investigations have shown that many evil men only use religion as a cover up. They are never true religious leaders.
One of the ready cases that comes to mind was that of the arrest of a Pastor who allegedly killed a seven-year-old boy and buried his head where the church’s alter was mounted. This action was to ensure the influx of members into the church located at Odokekere/ Odogunyan in Ikorodu area of Lagos state .
Elsewhere in Edo state and Ogun states, some pastors were also arrested over similar acts.
Few months ago, an unidentified woman who left her abode in Sango Otta area of Ogun in search of spiritual cleansing at the place of a Muslim cleric popularly called Alfa , in Badagry area of Lagos, ended up being victim of ritual killing.
A 61-year-old landlord, Toafeek Hassan, who confessed to have slaughtered the woman, was found with her fresh human head and other body parts which were to be used to prepare concoction by the alfa
Investigation shows that female parts are more in demand than their male counterparts. This is because of what was described as the potency of some parts like the breasts and lower private parts in money rituals and other purposes by herbalists and occult groups.
Ritual used to elongate life —suspect
One of the herbalists who spoke with Vanguard at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID , Oseni Bello, admitted to be preparing concoction with human body parts but said he was not involved in the killings. Oseni disclosed that some of the rituals were done to elongate lives . He added that the heart was used to prepare concoction for boldness and fear.
He stated further that virgins and babies on the other hand , were used by some politicians and government officials for ritual purposes as their blood is said to be used to elongate the user’s life span as well as fortify them against spiritual attacks. These are some of the reasons, he said, killings for rituals are on the increase.
A particular case in mind was that of a South-West politician alleged to have been caught by his driver with a dissected day-old baby whose blood he was drinking. The incident as reported two years ago, occurred inside a bush, while the driver was taking his boss (names withheld) to a function. Half way into the journey, the politician was said to have ordered his driver to pull over.
He thereafter, alighted and headed for a bush with a promise to be back. Having waited without any sight of his boss, the ignorant and curious driver reportedly went in search for him,only to meet him stark naked and pouring the blood of a dissected baby into his mouth. Barely two weeks later, the driver reportedly died under mysterious circumstance.
The event that occurred before his death was related by a Pastor friend whom the deceased confided in before his demise. The lust for money and power drives these people into ritual killings.
While some kill to achieve this unfathomable dream, others resort to digging graves and removing needed human parts for ritual purpose. Saturday Vanguard scooped that most guards at cemeteries connive with agents to sell human parts. It was learnt that if a fresh human head is needed, an agent will contact some cemetery workers ahead.
In this case, the cemetery official will be on the look out for fresh dead bodies, preferably those of Muslims who are usually buried within 24 hours after death. Immediately the body is interred, they exhume the body at night, cut off the needed parts and place the body back in the grave.
Human parts for sale
Those who patronize cemetery officials are usually herbalists, herbal traders and even prominent Nigerians who usually use middle men. Surprisingly, human parts are sold in some markets in Nigeria. We gathered that a fresh human head could go for N60,000 and above, while a skull is sold for N20,000. Fresh legs are sold for N30,000 each while a decomposed leg is sold for N20,000. A fresh finger is sold for N5,000 each while the decomposed is sold for 3,000. Fresh intestines are sold for N20,000 while dry ones are sold for N5000. Pieces of fresh bones are sold for N2,000 and above.
Public react
Reacting to the upsurge , the president, Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria , AISSON Dr. Ona. Ekhomu called on the Nigeria Police to set up Special Ritual Murder Squads in various State Commands to focus on the investigation, detection, arrest and prosecution of ritual killers. He said that the high incidence of serial ritual killings demands an urgent action at the level of the police high command.
According to the first chartered security professional in West Africa, citizens were rapidly losing faith in the ability of the police agency to detect and punish ritual killers. This, he said was responsible for the increase in lynching of suspects as members of the public resort to jungle justice to get redress for the heinous murders.
Said he: “The conscience of Nigerians should be troubled by reports of recent ritual murders including that of one-year-old Success lme in Calabar whose heart was ripped out from her small body for ritual purposes and was discovered in a Church along with other items for occult rituals. There is also the case of Pastor Samuel Okpara in Ahoada East LGA of Imo State who was kidnapped, killed and cannibalized by ritualists. The pastor was reportedly beheaded and his liver and intestines used for pepper soup and plantain porridge. What a horrific occurrence?”
He also decried the excesses of the Baddoo murder cult in Ikorodu Lagos State , saying it was a direct challenge to the Police.
Economic recession in the land is not a license to commit ritual murder. Impunity encourages ritualists to commit murders because they believe they will not be apprehended or punished.
I advise Nigerians against late night outings because if a vehicular breaks down one could fall victim of kidnap by ritualists. Commuters should always write down the identification markings of public conveyance vehicles which they enter and make phone calls to loved ones to pass on the information. Because ritual murderers always wish to be unidentified. They want to kill people, but don’t wish to be apprehended. Once information about them has been passed on to someone else, it becomes difficult for them to do evil”.
Nigerians should also assess public transport vehicles before boarding in order not to board the “wrong bus. Likewise, women are advised to carry whistles on them in order to raise an alarm if there is an attempt to abduct them”.
On his part, the national Coordinator, Network on Police Reform in Nigeria , NOPRIN Mr Okechukwu Nwanguma, attributted the rise in cases of killing for ritual to collapse in moral values “
It is also caused by , ignorance and superstition, the inordinate quest and pursuit of quick wealth and lack of effective punishment system.In a way, poverty and unemployment may also be a risk factor. If Nigerians have equal opportunities to earn income in legitimate ways , there will definitely be reduction in such abominable crimes like humans killing fellow humans for ritual.”
Also baring his opinion on the matter, Treasurer of the Action Democratic Party , Cross River State Chapter, Offiong Okon, in a recent interview, advised that: “Before a church is established, government should carry out investigation before license is granted because many of the church leaders and founders are ritualists, acting in the capacity of being Pastors.”
“Government should investigate the Pastors and checkmate their activities because what they do under the cover of being a religious leader.”
