Human Sacrifice - Present-day Occurrence

From TinWiki.org

Human sacrifice is defined roughly here as "murder motivated by religious beliefs, unprovoked - i.e. not occurring in the context of self-defense, war, combat, or physical struggle - and intended as an offering either to please or propitiate a deity or somehow otherwise to gain magical, spiritual, mystical, or miraculous powers and/or benefits" : not to include fatal exorcisms, witch-burning, vampire-eradications, trials by ordeal, ritual-initiation deaths, aesthetic infanticide, and so on, if only because the perpetrators of these latter processes possess some sense of legitimate self-defense and/or community-protection against the perceived danger posed to them by the demonic spirit, witch, vampire, sneaky wrongdoer, unworthy seeker, degenerate offspring, or et cetera; as opposed to the more purely wanton predatory deliberate disproportionate destruction of a hapless innocent non-threatening human target solely pursuant to religiously-themed selfish intentions of personal gain, which is here then posited as the pathognomonic sine qua non of the human sacrifice exemplars shown below.

Human sacrifice is still prevalent yet surprisingly unpublicized in our modern world. A brief survey on a nation-to-nation basis here will show its widespread geographical distribution in many nations, regions and continents, not merely in the last decades of the blood-soaked twentieth century, but continuing through the early years of this twenty-first century to the present day.

Contents 1 Argentina 2 Bangladesh 3 Botswana 4 Brazil 5 Chile 6 Colombia 7 England 8 France 9 Gabon 10 Germany 11 Ghana 12 Greece 13 India 14 Indonesia 15 Ireland 16 Italy 17 Kenya 18 Liberia 19 Malawi 20 Malaysia 21 Mali 22 Mexico 23 Mozambique 24 New Caledonia 25 Nigeria 26 Papua New Guinea 27 Philippines 28 Poland 29 Russia 30 Serbia 31 South Africa 32 Swaziland 33 Tanzania 34 Thailand 35 Togo 36 Turkey 37 Uganda 38 United States of America 39 Zimbabwe 40 Footnotes 41 Relevant Discussion Threads on AboveTopSecret.com 42 External Links

Argentina

Agence France-Presse / news.com.au reported on November 15, 2007 : " Argentinian police are investigating the 2006 murder and mutilation of a 12-year-old homeless boy in northeastern Corrientes believed to be the work of satanic cults. Ramon Ignacio Gonzalez was murdered during an eclectic ritual combining different practices of the Afro-Brazilian umbanda and kimbanda, the Argentine San La Muerte (Saint Death), and other satanic cults, the province's chief prosecutor Gustavo Schmitt said. He said police were looking for six suspected cult members, identified by a 14-year-old girl Ramoncita, a friend of the victim, who told police Gonzalez was murdered "to obtain purification by offering a young body to their gods". The mutilated body of Gonzalez, a homeless child who lived from selling religious cards and artifacts, was found October 2006 in Mercedes, a city of 50,000 some 700km north of Buenos Aires. The boy "was raped, impaled, tortured with cigarette burns, decapitated while still alive and then all the blood was drained from his body. They removed all the skin from his body, as well as his tongue, throat, and several vertebrae", Mr. Schmitt said. The chief prosecutor said investigators "firmly believe there is an ideological culprit who ordered the murder and may even have paid to have it done". Mr. Schmitt said he had asked a judge to include in the investigation another 2005 murder case of a newborn baby found bludgeoned to death on a Mercedes street, whose body remains unclaimed and was missing some bones. He said that in the Gonzalez murder investigation there were reports the suspects had carried out other human sacrifices."[1]

CWNews.com - www.dailycatholic.org reported for March 31, 2000 : " The brutal murder of a 50-year-old father at the hand of his two young daughters as part of a Satanic rite has shocked Argentine society and raised concern about the proliferation of satanic and other cults in Buenos Aires. The mutilated body of Juan Carlos Vazquez was found on Monday surrounded by his two daughters, Silvina, 21, and Gabriela, 29, who stabbed their father 100 times and ate part of his face. Yesterday, the police revealed the first details of the strange crime, announcing that the three of them belonged to a cult known as the "Alchemy Center for Transmutation." According to the police, apparently the father and daughters engaged in a ritual that ended with the murder of Juan Carlos Vazquez. Juan Carlos' body was found not only with 100 knife wounds, but also marked with cuts forming a strange figure. The killing took place in the living room, after the furniture was moved to one side. In the place were found cups with strange liquids and a book of "alchemy rites." When the police entered the home, the two daughters were screaming in a state of shock, one invoking Satan, the other one saying that Satan had finally left her father's body. "We can't know yet what happened exactly, because both women are temporarily under tranquilizers at a psychiatric institution," a police source revealed to the "Clarin" newspaper. According to Jose Maria Baamonde, a psychologist from Fundacion Spes, a Catholic institution dedicated to studying the growing number of sects and cults, the cult to which the Vazquez [father and daughters] belonged "is the type of organization that is becoming tremendously popular by combining some elements of Gnosticism and strange formulas and rites which they claim have been inherited from the ancient alchemists." Baamonde explained that, despite the sect's self-portayal as an institution devoted to self-knowledge and self-discipline, "some of their rites explicitly invoke the presence and power of the Devil.""[2]

Bangladesh

BBC News reported on February 26, 2002 : " The police in Bangladesh say they have arrested a young Muslim cleric for allegedly killing his own son in a ritual sacrifice during Eid ul-Adha, the biggest Muslim festival. They say the cleric, Golam Mustafa, admitted to having killed the seven-month-old boy, Sulayman, after receiving what he called a revelation. Local newspapers in the northern Mymensingh district say residents in the cleric's home village found the boy with his throat cut " [3].

Somewhat similarly, Agence France-Presse / news.com.au reported on May 21, 2006 : " A woman in Bangladesh killed her two-year-old son because her spiritual guru told her to, a report said. The grisly incident took place in the remote village of Nagarpur in the Comilla district in eastern Bangladesh, the English daily "Bangladesh Observer" said. Citing close relatives and neighbors, the newspaper said the woman slit the throat of the youngest of her three children in obedience to an order from her guru, who had appeared in a dream to demand the human sacrifice. The sacrifice was expected to bring prosperity to the family in this world and the next, it said. Quoting witnesses to the incident, the paper said the woman remained apparently unmoved by the sight of her son bleeding to death. Police had arrested the mother and were looking for the guru for questioning, it said. The woman's husband lives and works in the Middle East "[4].

Botswana

Bame Piet writes in Mmegi Online - www.mmegi.bw on April 1, 2008 : " SEBENI THUBISANE POPO... executed 08 November 2007 [for] murder: Popo was found guilty for the October 2004 ritual murder [of] Boitshwarelo Tinki Balotlegi, a Molepolole woman who was found dead with her private parts missing. He was facing the charge with Kautu Eanang and the former confessed to the killing. Eanang was acquitted because there wasn't enough evidence linking him to the offence. However, some flesh of the deceased was found at his house and he said it was from a sheep."[5]

Ryder Gabathuse reported in Mmegi Online - www.mmegi.bw for December 5, 2007 : " A retired former police crack detective, Kernel Kekgonegile says that ritual murders are generally difficult to investigate by their nature. "The motive for the killing is one aspect that sets ritual murders apart from ordinary murders where a person attacks another in full view of others and possibly kill there and then," declares the former police senior superintendent who retired in 2000. The Maun-based retired officer says in most cases, compiling information collected from possible sources to get a major breakthrough into a case requires patience, perseverance and a great deal of hard work. "It causes a lot of headache just to get to know how the killing was executed, the instruments used and the recovery of missing bodily parts and positively relating them to the discovered body, the relationship between the deceased and the arrested suspects and actually the whole chain of people involved in a case of ritual murder," he says. The most difficult part of a ritual murder, Kekgonegile says, is that the arrested suspects would not simply volunteer information just because they are held in custody. "They tend to perfect their defence since they take a long time to plan about the deal and once accomplished, it takes a great deal of time and intellect to break through," Kekgonegile points out ... One of the strategies that made Kekgonegile a good detective during his heydays was his tendency to isolate suspects, totally avoiding communication with the outsiders. "You totally cut contact and restrict the suspect so as to avoid him or her fiddling with possible evidence through the outside contacts," he says. He says in most cases, the corpse of the victim would be moved from many places before it could be finally dumped at the place where it was discovered. Revealing the triangle of a ritual murder, Kekgonegile says there are always the motivator, the killer and the traditional doctor. "Human body parts reportedly strengthen the motivator and provide some good luck. This is what we have learnt as we questioned those involved in the past cases." Kekgonegile does not believe in any of these stories, but just found himself doing his work. Although ritual murder cases are hard to crack, Kekgonegile remembers two cases in which he cracked when it was really tough. One of the cases that Kekgonegile remembers vividly is the ritual murder in Sekoma village whilst he was based in Kanye. "I had found a person held by police suspected for murdering another person and dumping the remains in a hole in the thickets. Wild animals had already eaten up some body parts," reminisces the former crack detective. Kekgonegile says he later had breakfast, lunch and dinner with the suspect until he broke through. "It was after some hard work that the suspect led us to where the body parts were hidden. I managed to gather all possible evidence that later saw him convicted and condemned," the policeman revealed. He says the initial arrest was simply based on circumstantial evidence. One thing for sure, he says, a ritual murder "syndicate" never panics. He says experience has shown that a ritual murder suspect requires sunrise to sunset to open up. "They are strong-hearted and they would not simply pass information. You have to be very clever when dealing with them. Don't get too close to them if you want to succeed," the crack detective advises. Kekgonegile advises that a clever police detective would allow the suspect to do the talking whilst he listens. In another case which was equally anchored on circumstantial evidence, Kekgonegile says a person who was last seen in the company of a child that was later found dead with some body parts missing before the arrest was made [sic]..."Because this particular case had occurred at a time when I had amassed a lot of experience, I knew what questions to ask a suspect and generally how to handle the suspects in ritual murders until we got the important evidence that I required to pin the suspect with," he says. In cases of ritual murder, Kekgonegile says there is always a syndicate, which includes a traditional doctor in the equation. One ritual murder case that still remains unresolved relates to the Mochudi incident of schoolgirl Segametsi Mogomotsi who was killed by unknown people. Her case saw the government paying a lot of money to bring crack detectives from the Scotland Yard who produced no solution. There were loud murmurings with fingers pointed at some people without an end to the issue. Top Botswana detectives overseeing investigations by locals included the retired Kekgonegile and another detective identified as Somolekae. Past immediate Commissioner of Police, Edwin Batshu acknowledges that murder cases are too secretive and hence difficult to crack. "The doer or killer destroys evidence linking him or her to the crime and in most cases evidence relied upon is merely circumstantial unless where they could make a straight breakthrough," explains Batshu, who retired last June from the police service. Most importantly, Batshu says unlike in the case of an ordinary murder, where a scene of crime could be preserved when it is convenient, the scene of a ritual murder is difficult to follow because evidence is totally destroyed and in most cases it takes time ... Batshu says chances of police succeeding even in ritual murders are there because of the state-of-the-art laboratory where DNA and other pathological tests could be done conveniently by highly-trained police officers. "In the urban areas where people seem not to care about what is happening in the neighborhood, ritual murder incidents are difficult to penetrate whilst in the rural areas where people are close knit they have high chances of success," Batshu adds. A serving police detective in charge of the Criminal Investigations at the Kutlwano police station, Assistant Superintendent Madziba Duna differs with his former superiors. As a man in the field, he declares "there is nothing easy or difficult about a case of ritual murder". To him, it all depends on the information available, which ultimately could influence the outcome of the investigations. He cites a case which occurred in Molepole a few years ago where suspects in a case of ritual murder were arrested quickly after the case was reported. "It all depends on the availablity of information to pin a suspect." Duna says it is unfortunate that some police officers, just like the public, tend to be overcome by the reverential fear associated with mutilated bodies ... University of Botswana (UB) social work lecturer, Log Raditlhowka says people kill others because a traditional doctor has ordered such a killing to mix his muti with human flesh. "It, however, depends on one's belief of becoming rich quickly by using the traditional concoction prepared by the traditional doctor. In most cases people who go for the mixer are strong believers in traditional medicine," explained Raditlhowka. He adds that some people kill because a traditional doctor who has ordered the operation to benefit certain selective human body parts will reward them after the act. "This practice is common across Africa among strong believers in the practice and that is why young boys and girls disappear around the elections time." Raditlhowka says perhaps it is the education of traditional doctors, which gives them a discretionary ability to demand for the human body parts. This, he said, hardens the resolve to murder."[6]

Innocent Tshukudu writes in the The Voice - www.thevoicebw.com on March 14, 2008 : " A Francistown High Court has granted bail to a key suspect in last year's infamous ritual murder of a thirteen-year-old boy. Steve Phenyego, the stepfather to the murdered Lesego Phenyego, made headlines last year following the disappearance and, later, a grisly discovery of his stepson's body under controversial circumstances. When the boy went missing, accusing fingers from the family as well as irate members of the public were directed at Phenyego due to his wayward behavior during the search for the boy. His drunkenness and reluctance to cooperate during the search led his wife, Lillian, into believing that he may have been involved in Lesego's disappearance. At some point, Phenyego was detained by Kutlwano police for his behavior but was later released as the investigations continued. When the charred remains of Lesego's body were found in the bush near Goldmine Junior Secondary School, the police arrested Phenyego and charged him with murder. In a dramatic twist of events, the BCP councilor for the Area, Interest Tawele, was also roped in the charge. Tawele has since been granted bail and this week Phenyego's attorney, Lyndon Mothusi, had an easy task in convincing Justice Zibani Makhwade that his client deserved to be granted bail as there was no evidence against him. Mothusi told The Voice that police investigations had been bungled from the onset. He agreed that the basic detective work to establish the boy's route of disappearance was not done. "Right now we don't know who killed the boy," said Mothusi. "Even if it were the stepfather we wouldn't know because the police failed in their duty. They just rushed into arresting the stepfather and his co-accused because it was probably easier to do that than the effort of following all channels of investigations. For example, the statement by the biological father shows that the child was at his home at the material time of the 27th, but he was never charged," he says. Outside the courtroom an excited and clean-shaven Phenyego quipped: "There is no case and there never was any case to answer," he said and added: "The reason why I was detained was because of my wife's suspicion. Our relationship is now not pleasant. It appears to have been so before the incident as she said I did not show parental love. I now have my freedom and I'll pick the pieces and continue with my life." Phenyego's wife, Lillian, has since relocated to her mother's place in Francistown's Block 9 and, as hope to get justice for her son's murder gets thinner, says she has placed her faith in God. "If the law can't punish my son's killers, God will. I have my family by my side to give me support and I don't think I'll ever get back with the man that I believe killed my son.""[7]

Ryder Gabathuse reported in Mmegi Online - www.mmegi.bw on February 8, 2005 : " Kutlwano police have refused to shed light on reports that the uterus and foetus were missing when the body parts of a 27-year-old Gweta woman were fished from Phase Six toilets recently. A source close to the relatives of the deceased hairdresser, Theetsano Eletsang told Mmegi recently that it was realized during an autopsy that the uterus and the foetus were missing. But CID at Kutlwano Police Station, detective superintendent, Mosalagae Moseki said they are still investigating the matter and it is the autopsy report from the forensic pathologist that will give them direction. He said the police do not have anything to suggest that the case was a ritual murder. "In the absence of anything suggesting that the deceased was murdered for ritual purposes, then we can't reach any conclusion unless there is something suggesting so." A 43-year-old woman, Chikadzi Buka, who hails from Senete village, is currently in custody after surrendering herself to the police in connection with the murder. Mmegi learnt that the woman has since tendered a confession statement to a judicial officer. "I can't comment on that one," Moseki said and added he feared it could jeopardize police investigations. "If the suspect has tendered a confession statement, then that would form part of evidence that cannot be discussed in the media." He indicated that police are on the trail of the traditional doctor who reportedly disappeared immediately after the ghastly murder."[8]

Ryder Gabathuse reported in Mmegi Online - www.mmegi.bw on February 24, 2004, from Francistown : " Police here have found the decomposed body of a two-year-old girl who went missing from her home last Thursday. The body was found near a kopje near the Donga suburb last Sunday by a passer-by. The death has left tongues wagging in the city that the little girl could have been killed for ritual purposes. The discovery comes immediately after the District Commissioner (DC) for Francistown Sylvia Muzila and the city leaders called a meeting to launch a search for the girl. "We have found the child, but the unfortunate thing is that she is dead and her body was almost decomposed," said Francistown Police Officer Commanding Senior Superintendent, Boikhutso Dintwa. He told Mmegi that the child was last Thursday spotted playing with her peers at her home in the Somerset Extension location. The police said the child was under the care of a housemaid, an illegal immigrant from neighboring Zimbabwe. The housemaid was locked up to assist the police in the search. "This does not mean that we are linking the housemaid to the death of the child," clarified Dintwa. The police boss agreed that under normal circumstances, the young girl would not have gone to play anywhere near the kopje since it is far from her home. Members of the public who saw the girl's body say that the death could have been premeditated and could be another case of ritual murder. "The girl was killed for a purpose and we doubt that the body was intact. Apparently the girl was not fully dressed when we briefly saw the body," said an eyewitness who claimed that she could not bear the sight of the corpse. She said the head was badly decomposed. "The only logical conclusion that we can come up with is that the innocent soul was murdered for ritual purposes," said another member of the public. The brutal act comes about a month after the death of another minor in the city."[9]

Brazil

On September 5, 2003, BBC News reported : " A Brazilian doctor has been sentenced to 77 years in prison for his part in the murder and sexual mutilation of boys in the Amazon town of Altamira between 1989 and 1993. He is the third person to be sentenced. Two more members of the occult sect to which they are said to belong will go on trial later this month. A government prosecutor said investigations into the disappearance of another six boys, who were abducted at the same time but not found, will begin. The families of the victims cheered and cried when the judge sentenced Dr. Anisio Ferreira de Souza for the murder and mutilation of three boys and the attempted murder of two others. During the trial in the northern Brazilian city of Belem, the jury heard that the mutilations, when the boys' genitals were removed, had been carried out with medical expertise. The victims had been anaesthetized - not from concern for their suffering, but so their screams would not be heard. The doctor is the third member of the occult sect accused of organizing the abduction and mutilation of boys in Altamira to be sentenced...A public prosecutor said that there was evidence that the sect, called the LUS, or Superior Universal Alignment, whose headquarters are said to be in Argentina, also has followers in other countries, including Holland and Paraguay. It is believed that the boys' sexual organs were used in rites of black magic."[10]

Jan McGirk and Natasha Parkway reported in the Independent on October 16, 2001 : " The ritual emasculation and murder of 20 dirt-poor Brazilian boys in the past decade is finally raising alarms. After the latest victim of a suspected black magic cult was castrated and killed last week, Brazil's Justice Ministry pressed for a rigorous investigation in the state of Maranhão. Authorities urged police to reopen sealed cases and solve the mystery of the dead boys, aged between 9 and 14, who came from slums around the north-eastern port of São Luis. In this former slave port, the Brazilian variant of voodoo, Macumba, has many practitioners. Occult rites that involve sacrifice occur mainly between the months of September and December, and parents worry that the serial killers are still at large. Black ribbons and candle wax have been found near some of the mutilated bodies over the years. Joisiane Gamba, a lawyer for a local children's defence group, said: "The signs are that this is not the work of a single criminal but of a group, and, at least in most of the cases, it could be a black magic cult." The latest victim, Welson Frazao Serra, 13, took his catapult to hunt rodents on a derelict building site but never returned home for supper. Police found his naked body face down, covered with palm fronds, close to two blood-streaked blades. The boy's catapult and a bundle of clothing were nearby. The middle finger of his right hand and both testicles had been severed, according to Paolo Aguiar, a law enforcement officer. Scientific tests found no sign of sexual assault. The only two suspects in the crime, a night watchman and a day laborer, were released by a judge for lack of evidence. Shoddy state police work and lost files have made children's rights groups despair, and they petitioned the Organization of American States to intervene in July. Federal investigators will now give technical assistance in the murder inquiry, tighten security in the slums and compensate families who lost sons. James Cavallaro, director of the Global Justice human rights group, said: "The investigation has been abysmal despite the gravity of the cases and the proof is we have 20 corpses and no convictions." Because the boys' families lacked influence or money, the sons were considered expendable - not worth the effort to track down the killers."[11]

Chile

CNA reported on August 4, 2004 : " Rodrigo Orias, the man who murdered Father Faustino Gazziero in the Cathedral of Santiago last week, admitted that he traveled to the Chilean capital from the city of Coyaique with the intention of killing a priest or a religious, as part of the Satanic worship he practiced, but he denied having chosen his victim beforehand. Father Nicolas Vial, chaplain of the prison hospital where Orias is being held, said, "What was clear to me, very clear, was that he did not come to murder Father Gazziero. He came because he felt something, call it something interior, in his heart, a voice, a force, telling him to commit this act, because he has said that he is connected with the Satanic world." He added that the young man appeared to be calm and even allowed him to pray with him and bless him. Orias asked his parents to be calm and to live a normal life in Coyaique, because he is an adult and does not want them to suffer for his actions. He is expected to be arraigned on murder charges."[12]

Colombia

CNA reported for June 8, 2006 : " Authorities believe a satanic group may be behind the murder of six members of a Colombian family in the town of Barrancabermeja over superstitions surrounding the date 6/6/06. According to media reports, one of the suspects is a member of the same family and belongs to a group that engages in occult practices. When police arrived at the gruesome crime scene, they found 27-year-old Javier Parra, a nephew and cousin of the victims, sitting before an image of Satan a few feet away from the bodies. The six victims ranging in age from 17 to 54 were found with their throats slit. Six knives were found at the scene, which was dotted with bloody tennis shoe footprints. Authorities believe Parra let the other members of the satanic cult into the house. Some reports claimed Parra had already confessed to being involved in the murders."[13]

England

BBC News reported on December 12, 2006: " The remains of an African boy whose torso was found floating in the River Thames have been buried...named Adam by police investigators...The boy, discovered in September 2001, is believed to have been the victim of a ritual killing...After a five-year probe, Adam has yet to be identified and officers felt the time was right to lay him to rest...When his body was found in the river near Tower Bridge, it prompted a major police inquiry. Detectives suspect Adam, who was aged between four and six, was a victim of a "muti" ritual killing days after arriving in the UK. Ground-breaking forensic work, which involved taking samples from the child's bones, linked him to West Africa and then Nigeria. The hunt led officers to a rural area measuring just 50x100 miles (80x160km) in the south-west of the country, near Benin City and Ibadan. Several arrests have been made in a case which showed links between human trafficking and ritual abuse, but no-one has yet been charged "[14]. Among many reports pursuant to this case, which attracted great interest, the BBC News reported May 27, 2002 : " Police investigating the suspected ritual killing of a boy whose torso was found in the Thames, believe such murders could be "pushing double figures" across Europe. The comment from a senior Scotland Yard officer comes as police forces exchange information at the first-ever conference into such killings. Commander Andy Baker met with detectives from France, Greece, Italy, and the United States, who presented details of their own unsolved deaths at a conference in the Hague. Mr. Baker said three killings in Italy had "striking similarities" to the mutilation and dismemberment involved in the London murder. "We knew about a couple already, it's pushing double figures across Europe now." He said ritual killings could easily have spread from Africa to Europe. "People move around and languages, cultures, beliefs and religions move with them. Who's to say this has not been imported as well," he said ...Police in South Africa have estimated that hundreds of children may have been killed by witchdoctors practicing a perversion of traditional "muti" medicine, using body parts to make life enhancing ointments and potions ...detectives are already re-examining a 33-year-old murder case in which the headless torso of a baby girl was found hidden in the bushes in Epping Forest, Essex. Her head was later found nearby and the girl, said to be of mixed race, was identified but police have not released her name."[15] Another BBC News report referencing "Adam", on October 16, 2003, added : " New evidence found in the boy's lower intestine has been identified as the highly poisonous calabar bean which police believe may have been used to subdue him ... A botanist at Kew Gardens identified the calabar bean that was found inside Adam's intestine."[16] For more information as to the calabar bean and Adam's gastrointestinal contents, the Independent reported dated October 17, 2003 : " Identification of the rare calabar bean provides further evidence that the boy, who was aged between four and seven, was murdered as part of a black magic ceremony. The calabar, or "ordeal" bean as it is known in west Africa, where it originates from, is traditionally used to test a suspected witch or criminal. If the person dies from eating the bean they are thought to have been rightly punished; if they survive they are considered innocent. The bean may have been used to subdue Adam up to 24 hours before his death. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "The bean is often used for witchcraft purposes on the western coast of Africa. It can be fatal if consumed and is also known to cause paralysis." ... [Scientists] also discovered that the boy had been fed a potion of mixed bone, clay and gold."[17]

Previously on June 16, 2005, the BBC had reported: " Children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for human sacrifices, a confidential report for the Metropolitan Police suggests...The report was commissioned by the Met after the death of Victoria Climbie in February 2000 and because of concerns over so-called faith crimes...Today programme reporter Angus Stickler, who obtained the police report due to be published later this month, described it as "absolutely chilling."..." The most gruesome details come from the African communities," he said. " This report talks of rituals, of witchcraft, being practiced in churches in London. It is described as big business." It said that people who are desperate seek out churches to cast spells for them. " Members of the workshop said for spells to be powerful it required a sacrifice of a male child unblemished by circumcision," the report said. Contributors said boys were being trafficked into the UK for this purpose, but did not give details because they said they feared they would be "dead meat" if they told any more. There were also claims that youngsters were being smuggled into the UK as domestic slaves and for men with HIV who believed if they had sex with a child they would be cleansed. One HIV outreach worker who spoke to the BBC website said a small minority of Africans who came to his sessions had begun to mention this as a possible solution to their problems. The authors of the report point out that these claims are only allegations... The report...also acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue as the abuse was a product of individuals' faith and beliefs "[18].

Patrick Barkham wrote in the Guardian March 16, 2005 : " A psychiatric patient who walked out of a mental health ward and ate the brain of a friend he cooked in a frying pan was given two life sentences yesterday for killing two men. Peter Bryan, 35, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the manslaughter of Brian Cherry, 43, whose brain was fried in butter, and Richard Loudwell, 59, another psychiatric patient. Bryan admitted he "enjoyed" the "forbidden fruit" of his victim's flesh and planned to kill again in a case described as a "breathtaking" example of failure in the mental health system. The court heard how an array of mental health experts decided Bryan could be returned to community-based treatment less than 10 years after he was sent to a secure hospital in 1994 for using a hammer to beat to death Nisha Sheth, a 20-year-old shop assistant, in Chelsea. Despite attacking prison staff and saying he wanted to eat someone's nose after he killed Mr. Cherry in February last year, Bryan was able to kill for a third time because he was placed in a medium-risk ward at Broadmoor. In April, he attacked Mr. Loudwell, who died of head injuries in June. "The last two killings have taken place when the defendant was under the care of the mental health regime, which has manifestly failed to protect the public," said Aftab Jefferjee, for the prosecution, who called the second failure "breathtaking". Described by his barrister as a "victim" of the mental health system, Bryan admitted to psychiatrists that the "voodoo ritual" of eating human flesh gave him a "quickening" feeling, transferring energy from the people he killed. Mr. Jafferjee said Bryan told doctors that cannibalizing human beings was like "eating the forbidden fruit" and confessed he "really enjoyed eating Mr. Cherry's brain". One psychiatrist said he was probably the most dangerous man he had assessed. But the court heard that Bryan, who had paranoid schizophrenia and a personality disorder, had repeatedly fooled doctors because of his ability to remain calm and appear normal. Bryan was detained for killing Ms. Sheth, but his mental state was judged to be stable by 2000. The following year, nursing staff at Rampton high-security hospital in Nottinghamshire judged he had made considerable progress in "behavior, attitude, maturity, relationships, anger and insight". After applying to a review tribunal in 2002, he was moved to a north London hostel where he could come and go as she pleased. Later that year, his mental health social worker told the Home Office the defendant did not present any major risk. In February 2004 Bryan was transferred to an open psychiatric ward at Newham General Hospital, east London, after allegations he had indecently assaulted a 16-year-old girl. While on the ward, experts noted he "appeared to be settled." "No psychotic symptoms were observed," said Mr. Jafferjee. "These expert opinions and observations were to be overwhelmingly confounded in less than 24 hours." Because he was a voluntary patient, Bryan was free to leave the ward and visit Mr. Cherry in nearby Walthamstow in February last year. He inflicted more than 24 blows to Mr. Cherry's head with a hammer, and used a Stanley knife and kitchen knives to saw off his arms and left leg. Neighbors called the police after hearing screams, but Bryan had already fried Mr. Cherry's brain using a tub of Clover and eaten some of it when police entered the blood-soaked flat. Bryan was given two life sentences and told that life would mean life. Judge Giles Forrester said: "You have killed on these last two occasions because it gave you a thrill and a feeling of power when you ate flesh. Although substantially impaired, you do of course bear criminal responsibility. The violence on each occasion was extreme and unpredictable, accompanied by bizarre and sexual overtones." Relatives of Bryan and his victims said the mental health system was to blame for the two latest deaths ... "It's like something out of a horror film," said Mr. Cherry's niece Emma, 20, from Falkirk, who described her uncle as a "totally kind and gentle" man. "Both his hands were broken when he tried to defend himself. Parts of his body were not even identifiable. He obviously didn't stand a chance.""[19]

Jason Bennetto reported in the Independent on July 17, 2002 : " A teenager who wanted to be a vampire cut out the heart of an elderly woman and drank her blood during a ritual killing, a court heard yesterday. The youth aged 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of murdering Mabel Leyshon, 90, at her home in Llanfair, Anglesey. The teenager committed the "sacrifice" in November last year having read about how to become immortal and a vampire, a jury at Mold Crown Court was told. Mrs. Leyshon's chest was "ripped open" and her heart removed and wrapped in newspaper, which was placed in a saucepan on top of a silver platter. Pokers were left crossed at her feet in the shape of either a cross or inverted cross, the court heard. Roger Thomas QC, for the prosecution, said: "This was a murder carried out to satisfy the defendant's own sadistic and selfish ends." Mr. Thomas added: "He may now deny it or seek to play it down but we submit that in November 2001 he was fascinated by and believed in vampires. He believed they existed, believed they drank human blood and believed most importantly that they could achieve immortality - and he wanted to be immortal. What may have started out as a bizarre interest became an obsession and led ultimately to murder." The jury was told that the teenager, who denies murder, broke into Mrs. Leyshon's house while the deaf pensioner watched television in her lounge. He attacked her from behind, stabbing her 22 times, including one wound that was so deep he was able to tear out the victim's heart. The teenager removed most of Mrs. Leyshon's clothes and put her body in an armchair with her legs propped up on a stool. He then drained her blood into a small saucepan. "This is an incident that a person has taken some time over and possibly enjoyed because the blood in the saucepan has dried out before the newspaper [containing the heart] is put into it," said Mr. Thomas. Earlier the barrister told the court: "By 24 November 2001, the defendant had learned quite a lot about vampires, certainly enough to satisfy his two main questions: how do I become a vampire and how do I become immortal? He had decided what he had to do; a sacrifice, the murder of another human being was necessary to achieve his ends. And with his parents away he committed what we submit to you was a planned, deliberate murder to satisfy his own grotesque and selfish ends," Mr. Thomas said. The youth was not insane but carried out the murder because of his obsession with vampires, Mr. Thomas told the jury. A month before the murder the teenager had been arrested after he allegedly assaulted a German exchange student who he believed was a vampire, the court heard. While talking to the girl, aged 16, in her bedroom, the youth had allegedly pushed his neck against her mouth and begged her to bite him so he too could become a vampire. "She screamed and her landlady ran into the room with another student and they saw the defendant forcing her on to the bed and saying "But she's a vampire,"" the court was told."[20] Subsequently, on August 3, 2002, Ian Herbert reported in the Independent : " An art student was convicted yesterday of murdering a 90-year-old woman and drinking her blood in a vampire ritual that he thought would make him immortal. Mathew Hardman, 17, was jailed for a minimum of 12 years after a jury unanimously concluded his obsession with vampires had led him to kill deaf, partially sighted Mabel Leyshon at her home in Llanfairpwll, Anglesey, last November. Hardman stabbed Mrs. Leyshon to death, then cut out her heart and drank her blood from a saucepan, thinking he would become a vampire. He wept as the jury's verdict was returned, after less than two days' deliberation. Mr. Justice Richards said the attack was "planned and carefully calculated" by a defendant whom he considered "of sound mind", though he thought Hardman was possibly disguising an undiagnosed psychiatric illness. "I can make an allowance for a degree of confused thinking and immaturity, for some childish fantasizing, but the fact remains this was an act of great wickedness and one that you have not faced up to and one for which you have not shown any remorse," the judge told Hardman. "You hoped for immortality, but all you have achieved is the brutal ending of another person's life and the bringing of a life sentence upon yourself." Hardman was watched from the public gallery by a 17-year-old teenage German exchange student whom he had begged to bite his neck two months before the murder - an incident that provided some pointer to the crime he was about to commit. The student, who lived at lodgings with one of Hardman's friends, let him in when he arrived for a chat one night after finishing work at the Carreg Bran Hotel, where he worked as a waiter and kitchen porter. The pair sat on the girl's bed and talked about gothic fashions, vampires, life after death and other paranormal subjects for several hours before Hardman accused her of being "one of them" - and begged her to bite his neck so that he, too, could become a vampire. He became violent, pressed his neck against her mouth and when her distressed cries were answered Hardman accused anyone in sight of being a vampire. He even deliberately punched himself on the nose to draw blood in a bid to "tempt" someone to bite him. As a police officer handcuffed Hardman, he repeatedly said: "Bite my neck". Hardman's desire to bring this fantasy to life was what led him to kill Mrs. Leyshon. They had encountered each other often when, from the ages of 13 to 16, he earned £10 on a weekly paper round, which included visits to her bungalow. On several occasions, the houseproud pensioner, a talented landscape artist widowed for more than 40 years, politely reminded Hardman to shut the garden gate. Mrs. Leyshon, whose home was decorated with teddy bears left out as reminders to switch off the immersion heater or do chores, had few visitors. She had no children or close family and the only people who regularly came to see her were a former carer and a distant cousin who made weekly trips. On the night of her death, a Saturday, Hardman donned gloves and walked the few hundred yards from his home to Ger-y-Twr, Mrs. Leyshon's neatly kept home. She was sitting in her favorite armchair, her back to the lounge door, watching television with the sound turned up because of her increasing deafness, and did not hear a thing as Hardman picked up a slate from her rockery, threw it through the bottom glass panel of the back door and bent down to ease himself into the kitchen. He went into the living room and launched a ferocious attack on the widow with a knife he had taken from the kitchen of his home, stabbing her several times. After the killing, he moved the body from her favorite armchair to a different chair and propped her legs on a stool. At some stage he arranged two brass pokers in the shape of a cross on the floor in front of the body, placed two candlesticks near the corpse and balanced a candle on the mantelpiece. Two days after the killing, Hardman was questioned by officers making door-to-door inquiries. He told them he had been at a friend's home. He had typical teenage hobbies: computer games, television, pop music, art, reading magazines and drinking beer with his small circle of friends. Because he had no previous convictions, he appeared to have evaded capture. Then police decided to publicize some of the macabre elements of Mrs. Leyshon's death, including the ritualistic nature of the crime. Among 200 calls received by the murder squad were two from people who had heard rumors that a young man had been arrested for asking people to bite his neck. Officers then searched Hardman's bedroom and found the Penguin edition of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and two copies of the magazine "Bizarre", which featured articles on how to cook and eat human flesh and how to create your own Black Mass. He had also clearly logged on to websites including The Vampire Rights Movement and The Vampire/Donor Alliance. Also recovered were a kitchen knife that bore minute traces of Mrs. Leyshon's blood and a pair of Levi trainers that matched the footprint found on the slate used to smash the bungalow window. The footwear had recently been put through the washing machine. Hardman's coolness under police interrogation was reflected when, after three days of questioning, officers charged him and asked if he wanted anything. A Big Mac and fries, he replied. In court, however, Hardman's persistent hand-wringing, deep breathing and facial twitch betrayed the nervousness of a defendant confronted by incriminating evidence."[21]

France

John Lichfield reported in the Independent on October 31, 2003 : " The discovery of the bodies of four newborn babies, apparently strangled, in a woodland in eastern France has baffled investigators and generated a series of macabre rumors and allegations. The corpses were found inside plastic supermarket bags, wrapped in bin-liners. Two of the babies had nooses around their necks. Post-mortem examinations suggest the babies died soon after their birth, probably in the late spring or early summer. A murder investigation has been launched. The murder of individual babies is an uncommon, but occasional, occurrence in France. The discovery of four infant corpses at the same time is unprecedented. Gendarmes said that they had little evidence to go on and can pursue "no particular" line of inquiry until DNA tests and other researches are completed. Local people in the village of Galfingue, near Mulhouse in Alsace, have pointed the finger of blame at Satanists, gypsies and the eastern European prostitution rings which have colonized many French cities in the past five years. Claude Minssen, president of Enfance Majuscule Alsace, a regional child welfare group, said: "We are utterly perplexed. All possibilities must be examined, even those which appear on the face of it to be bizarre." The babies were found nine days ago by Philippe Gava, 46, a local woodcutter who was clearing undergrowth in a section of forest he owns eight miles south of Mulhouse. He said he found the bags hidden in a tangle of brambles. At first, it was thought the plastic bags contained only one infant corpse, as well as blood-stained underwear and towels. This week, the public prosecutor's office in Mulhouse announced that the decomposing remains of four babies had been identified. The babies had been born alive and apparently strangled. Until tests are completed, it is unclear whether the babies came from one mother. This is regarded as unlikely ... Villagers spoke to the press of rumors of Satanic rituals in the area and the discovery several weeks ago of a number of skulls close to a First World War bunker in a neighboring village. A gendarmerie spokesman said there was no reason to connect this discovery with the dead babies."[22]

Gabon

BBC News reported on April 23, 2008 : " There has been a sharp increase in ritual killings in Gabon ahead of local elections on April 27, say campaigners. The Association to Fight Ritual Crimes says there have been 12 deaths during campaigning - far more than usual. The bodies of young children have been found with various body parts missing and gruesome discoveries have been made on Gabon's beaches, the group says. It is believed some politicians order the killings in the hope that they will secure political power. The BBC's Clare Spencer in Libreville says fear of reprisals from politicians is the reason why no one has yet been prosecuted for such crimes. But the mayoral candidate, Andre Dieudonne Berre, denies the practice is widespread. " We must be careful about these accusations, " he says, " because people get very emotional... Maybe there are a few isolated cases, but it is not true to say that it is a general practice. " ALCR founder Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo started the organization after the bodies of his own son and a friend were found on the beach near the capital, Libreville, three years ago. " These politicians drink the blood and eat the bodies of their victims, " says Parfait Edou Engouang from the association. " They do this as a ritual to keep themselves in power, " he said. The ALCR says it wants the international community to try to put more pressure on the government to find the killers."[23]

The Mail Online reported April 16, 2008 : " Politicians in the central African nation of Gabon have been accused of ritually killing children in the belief it will increase their chances of election. When the body of 13-year-old Ralph Edang N'na was found drained of blood and with gaping wounds last month, many in Gabon thought it was politicians who had ordered his killing. The murder of children and young adults, whose organs are eaten or used to make magical amulets, has increased in recent years in the oil-rich central African nation. Campaigners say some Gabonese politicians use the black magic rituals to boost their chances of winning lucrative government posts. With elections to local municipal councils due on April 27, many fear a spate of gruesome child murders. Every week, mutilated bodies are discovered in the capital Libreville, despite police patrols, and streets quickly empty after nightfall. Anxious parents are keeping a close watch around schools to prevent children from being snatched. "It's before elections and ministerial reshuffles that the vilest crimes are committed and the capital empties of certain kinds of politicians who go to the interior to carry out witchcraft," said pastor Francois Bibang, a member of the Association to Fight Ritual Crimes (ALCR). In ritual killings, which still take place in several African countries, people are killed to obtain body parts and blood in the belief they will bring social success and political power. The victims are often children. The ALCR says that in February alone there were 12 such killings in Gabon. "Unfortunately, this practice seems to be spreading again in Gabon," said Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo, who founded ALCR after his 12-year-old son was kidnapped, killed and mutilated three years ago. Mr. Ondo condemned the "silence of the state" and called on residents to "fight off these assassins who sow terror in the heart of Gabonese society." The killings have continued despite a Gabonese government attempt to implement the U.N. charter enshrining children's right to health, education and protection from abuse ... The head of an association against ritual crimes, Frederic Ntera Etoua, said 290 killings had occurred since 1986 in the thick jungles of the Ogooue-Ivindo province in the north-east, where Ralph Edang N'na was killed. "There is a pyramid organization with politicians at its head who pursue the famous "spare parts", then the recruiters who are middle men, and then the suppliers and sellers who find the innocent victims," said Mr. Bibang. Phillippe Ndong, a psychology teacher at Libreville University, recounts a litany of horrors:

- An eight-year-old girl was snatched in the Ndolou region and killed in the central town of Mouila. The man allegedly responsible was a parliamentary candidate [name omitted in the original] and has since been elected.

- In 2002, a man in his 20s, Lucien Bigoundou, was killed in the Digoudou forest of central Gabon while on a hunting trip with others, who cut off parts of his body.

- In March 2005, the bodies of two 12-year-old boys were washed up on a Libreville beach - one of them Ebang Ondo's son.

- A month later, six-year-old Warlys Igor Mboumba was found dead in a Libreville gutter, his body drained of blood.

- In January 2006, the bodies of three children under four were discovered in the trunk of a car in a private yard.

- Last April, two men suspected of sexually assaulting a three-year-old boy and draining his blood in a ritual killing were lynched.

ALCR member Emile Ngoua, a pastor, warned that lynchings could increase if no official action is taken to halt the ritual killings. "It is up to the government to put a swift end to this impunity or risk seeing a rise in mob justice," he said. Gabon, with just 1.6 million people, is one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producers but most of its population continue to live in poverty, while members of a rich elite drive gleaming new cars along Libreville's seafront boulevard. Omar Bongo, the world's longest-serving president, has ruled the country since 1967 and used the oil funds to weave a web of patronage which has created bitter competition for lucrative political jobs. Speaker Guy Nzouba Ndama opened the latest parliamentary session last month by denouncing ritual crimes by politicians. But none have been convicted. An attempt to prosecute a politician from the Gamba region last year failed after he claimed parliamentary immunity."[24]

Germany

Satan

Kate Connolly reported in the Guardian on July 13, 2001 : " A devil-worshipping newly married German couple were arrested yesterday after allegedly fleeing the scene of a suspected satanic killing. The body of a 33-year-old car-parts dealer identified as Frank H. was found on Monday in the couple's flat in the western town of Witten, with 66 machete and hammer wounds. "The victim was no longer recognizable," a police officer said. "We had to carry out DNA analysis to discover his identity." The body was lying next to a black oak coffin, models of human skulls, upturned crosses and Nazi SS rune stones. The police also found a hit list naming 15 of the couple's acquaintances who, it is alleged, they were planning to kill ritualistically. The pair, named as Manuela B., 22, and Daniel R., 25, were found near Jena, eastern Germany, yesterday morning: it is said they were on their way to honeymoon at Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, central Romania. It was reported that the victim, a colleague of Daniel R., was invited to a party at the couple's flat. An investigator said: "The walls were covered in black cloths, and there was a coffin in the living room." The slogan "When Satan Lives" was scrawled on the window. The man is thought to have died last Friday, July 6, a date supposedly chosen for the satanic symbolism of number six. The shaven-headed, body-pierced Daniel and his pink-haired, leather-clad bride Manuela were said to have met through an occult chat-line earlier this year, and had their first date at an old cemetery in Recklinghausen. They chose the symbolic date of June 6 ... for their register-office wedding and told the wedding photographer that their honeymoon destination was Dracula's castle. Manuela's parents told the newspaper "Bild" that her flirtation with satanism began when she was 13, and that her relationships took on increasingly disturbing characteristics. An early boyfriend told "Bild" that she had bitten him in the neck, screaming "I want your blood!" Another ex-boyfriend said: "She told me straight away that she was a satanist. We hit each other during sex, and wore leather dog collars with studs." Daniel's parents said his contact with the occult scene became intense around the time of his final school exams, and became really serious after he met Manuela. Friends say the pair practiced sado-masochistic sex, repeated extreme right-wing slogans, and had an obsession with blood. On the mailbox of Daniel's mobile phone was the lyric: "I drink your blood, I eat your skin." The victim's parents said their son had no links with the occult scene. "He was a loving, faithful, and sensitive boy." He had recently been left by a girlfriend and was considering becoming a monk, they added. On Saturday the couple, dubbed the "satanic Bonnie and Clyde", drove to Hanover and bought new tires for their Opel Vectra, which they were reported to have covered with five-pointed stars, another satanic symbol. They were spotted on Sunday filling up with petrol in Sonderhausen, in the eastern state of Thüringen. The area has held a strong attraction for satanists since 1993, when 17-year-old Hendrik Möbus, the leader of a satanist group, murdered a fellow pupil. When they were arrested yesterday, they had wiped off the occult symbols and fitted a stolen number plate."[25] Reuters/www.iol.co.za reported for January 31, 2002 : " A couple who killed a "friend" by stabbing him 66 times in a Satanic ritual have been given long prison sentences in a case that has fascinated Germany with bizarre details of blood-sucking and devil worship. Daniel Ruda, 26, and his wife Manuela, 23, confessed to murdering the man in their flat, surrounded by skulls, cemetery lights, scalpels and incense. The victim, a 33-year-old colleague of Daniel Ruda's, was chosen because his mild nature and love of The Beatles enraged them. The pair have shown no remorse, claiming they were merely following the Devil's order to send him a human sacrifice because he wanted a "court jester". A judge in the western town of Bochum on Thursday found the pair guilty of murder and sentenced Daniel to 15 years and Manuela to 13 years, starting with psychiatric treatment. The possibility that they could kill again meant they may never be released. Manuela said she had acquired a taste for vampirism during a visit to London, where she attended "bite parties" at which people voluntarily had blood sucked from their veins. The two, first brought together by a shared hatred for the world, have gained a cult following with defiant behavior in court, making rude gestures, rolling their eyes maniacally and sticking their tongues out. Manuela, sporting a punk hairstyle with one side of her scalp shaved and with claw-like, long, dark fingernails, chewed gum but otherwise remained motionless. When camera crews charged into the courtroom after the sentencing, she made a defiant Satanic gesture with her forefinger and little finger stretched out. The couple kissed briefly before they were led away. Their lawyers said they would appeal. Manuela had told the court she drifted into the "Gothic" scene after the devil contacted her when she was 14. She slept in a coffin in their apartment. Manuela met Daniel after responding to his advertisement in a heavy metal magazine that read : "Pitch black vampire seeks princess of darkness who hates everything and everyone." The trial had heard how the two launched themselves into a world of devil worship, inciting each other to commit violence. Daniel said he had merely been a tool of Satan. " If you run someone over with a car, you don't prosecute the car," he said. The court heard chilling details of how difficult it had been to kill the man. " Daniel struck him on the head twice with the hammer. But he stood up and walked towards the television," Manuela told the court. " Then my knife started to glow and I heard the command to stab him in the heart."[26]

Ghana

BBC News reported on July 9,2008 : " Police in Ghana are trying to reunite a boy with his family after rescuing him from what they suspect was a ritual killing. Two men have been given lengthy prison sentences for trying to sell the 16-year-old boy for $20,000...Police believe he would have been killed for his body parts to be used for witchcraft. Having rescued the boy, the police have issued a photo of him in order to try to find his relatives. The photo published by the police shows Akwesi Buabeng staring into the camera looking a little bewildered. Akwesi is lucky to be alive after two men took him from the Volta Region to Sefwi-Asawinso in the west of Ghana and tried to sell him...The police suspect Akwesi would have been killed and his body parts used for witchcraft either in the west of Ghana or across the border in Ivory Coast. Traditional healers are widely consulted in Africa and some people believe the use of body parts for a ritual can bring good luck and protect against disease or misfortune...The police confirm that in the last two months there have been two other cases in the same area of Ghana - one involving the attempted sale of a human head. In some cases relatives are privy to the crime and so if a child is then rescued it is not always easy to reunite them with their families."[27]

PeaceFM - www.peacefmonline.com reported on August 18, 2008 : " The Bibiani Police on Thursday arrested three people in connection with the murder of Musa Iddi, one of the hunchbacks found dead with the hump removed. The three are Nuhu Billa, alias Apana, Alidu Musah, alias Ton, and Abudu Rahman alias Taller who is a butcher, while the fourth person is at large. Last month, the Bibiani Police appealed to the public to assist to unravel the emerging gruesome murdering of hunchbacks at Bibiani, with the suspicion that their humps were being used for rituals. The suspected murderers tied one of the victim's neck with a rope and cut part of his hump. Meanwhile, the Bibiani Police are hunting for the fourth culprit and have appealed to the public to assist with any information to facilitate his arrest while they continue with their investigations."[28] PeaceFM having previously reported on these matters for the date August 6, 2008 : " The Bibiani Police said yesterday that investigations have so far linked a family member to the alleged murder in Bibiani, Western Region in July of the 65-year-old hunchback whose hump was allegedly removed for ritual purposes. The family member (name withheld for security reasons), is yet to be arrested by the police. Police investigations showed that the family member was in league with some prominent citizens in Bibiani. Police suspected that he might have collected some money from the murderers before leading them to the dwelling place of the victim who was abducted and later found dead with the hump removed. Bibiani District Police Commander, Sampson Anane-Appiah, said the police have also intensified their investigations to locate two prominent persons linked to the alleged murder and reiterated an appeal to the public to assist by offering information on the alleged murders. The murderers were also said to have stolen GH¢ 2,500 belonging to the victim, which had been hidden in the aluminum structure that served as his room. Yakubu Busanga was abducted from his room close to the mosque, opposite the Bibiani post office in the central market area on July 22, 2008. He was found dead three days later. His body was concealed in a sack and dumped at a refuse site. Two other hunchbacks were also allegedly murdered in Bibiani and their humps removed. In June, the body of a hunchback woman was allegedly exhumed at Nyinahini, near Bibiani, and the hump cut off. The Bibiani community believe that the humps removed from the victims are used for ritual purposes because of a strange belief that their blood is very potent. The District Commander said police have intensified investigations into other killings in Bibiani. Between January and July, the town witnessed nine murders, he said."[29]

PeaceFM - www.peacefmonline.com reported on September 16, 2008 : " Francis Afetorgbor, a fetish priest and his wife Esi Nyame of Kwamekrom in the Volta Region have been remanded in prison custody for allegedly murdering their four-year-old son Lumor Korsina for ritual purposes. Other accomplices also remanded were Kudjo Korsina, and Dzorbesi Zeyi, both fishermen and Mallet Motorsi Korsina, herbalist all relatives of Afetorgbor. Their pleas were not taken and would reappear on October 10, this year. Police Chief Inspector, Emmanuel Kpodo, prosecuting told a Hohoe Magistrate's Court presided over by Ms. Janet Awo Bakudie that on the night of July 23, this year, Kudjo Korsina sent Amewugo Korsina, six and the deceased to spend the night with Seyram Korsina in her room at C. K. Korpe (village) near Tapa-Abotoase. He said the next day the deceased was missing and could not be found in the vicinity. The prosecution said the matter was reported to the police and elders, who organized a search in and around the village but to no avail, therefore a report was made to Abotoase Police. He said during investigations, Amewuga told the police that Esi came into their room during the night and took the deceased away. Police Chief Inspector Kpodo said it was revealed that the deceased's disappearance was a conspiracy among the accused persons to abduct and murder him for ritual purposes to appease his father's shrine. He said the police acting on intelligence report went to the shrine but could not find the corpse."[30]

GNA - www.modernghana.com reported December 11, 2007 : " The police at Agbozume have arrested two people suspected of murdering Ametornawo Gagba, a 78-year-old widow at Deme near Dzodze in the Ketu District of the Volta Region, for ritual purposes. They are Kwasi Esri Gbadagba, a 37-year-old fisherman, a former tenant of the deceased and Kwaku Adza a 27-year-old tailor. Mr. Salah Sylvanus Kudoloh, Assistant Superintendent of Police in-charge of Agbozume Area confirmed the story but declined to give details, saying investigations were on-going. Gbadabga's wife, Akpene Gbadagba and Gbadagba's cousin Wusagba Gbadabga, who are suspected accomplices in the crime, are on the run. The suspects allegedly removed the hands, legs, breasts, head, and private parts of the victim and siphoned into a pot, blood that oozed as they slit her throat. They also allegedly used part of the body parts and the blood in performing rituals at an area near Anloga, where they were resident, to enable them to make bumper catch during their fishing expedition and also to fortify themselves spiritually. The police have since exhumed the decomposed body of the deceased, from a shallow grave at her compound at Deme and released it to her family for burial after autopsy at the Police Hospital in Accra. Police sources at Agbozume told the GNA that the deceased, who lived alone at an isolated cottage at Deme, was missing in November this year, leading to days of search for her by residents of the main village for days without any result. The sources said on November 23 this year, some residents found a shallow grave at the deceased's compound, with flies hovering over the place. They informed the police, who ordered that the grave should be opened, leading to the discovery of the decomposed body of the deceased without the body parts. Upon a tip-off, the police sources said on December 4, this year, Gbadagba was arrested at a hideout at Klikor near Agbozume, and after admitting his complicity in the crime he led the police to Aklavime near Anloga where Adza was also arrested. The two, the police sources said, led the investigators to a spot near a palm tree at Latame, also near Anloga, where the police removed some of the body parts and a pot containing blood, all of which the suspects buried after the rituals. During a further search, part of the deceased's clothes were found with Adza, who claimed they were brought to him by Gbadagba to be sown for him and finally said he Adza was not involved in the murder. Meanwhile, a silver bowl and a basket, both of which belonged to the victim and which the group allegedly used in conveying the body parts and her personal belongings, were found with Adza, who Gbadagba insisted was involved in the planning and execution of the plan. The police said they established that Gbadagba who stayed briefly with the victim in her house at Deme was the architect of the plot. Gbadagba and Adza were to be put before court soon on a provisional charge of murder."[31]

Greece

Kathimerini - www.ekathimerini.com reported on March 30, 2005 : " The convicted leader of a deadly satanic cult was yesterday charged by a prosecutor in central Greece with abducting a woman and impersonating a police officer while on a five-day furlough from prison. Asimakis Katsoulas was one of three people convicted in 1995 for their part in the kidnap, rape and murder of a 30-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl in occult ceremonies in deserted buildings near Athens. A young Albanian woman alleged that Katsoulas approached her on Monday afternoon in the town of Itea, northwest of Athens, claiming to be a police officer and forcing her into his car. The woman claims that while they were driving to a nearby village, she fainted and Katsoulas then dumped her at a bus station, back in Itea. Based on the description given by the woman, who also noted the car's number plate, police arrested Katsoulas shortly afterward. Katsoulas denied the charges and claimed he was the victim of a vendetta by guards at Malandrino Prison, where he was returned yesterday."[[32]

India

BBC News reported on April 12, 2006 : " In India's remote northern villages it feels as if little has changed. The communities remain forgotten and woefully undeveloped, with low literacy and abject poverty. They are conditions that for decades have bred superstition and a deep-rooted belief in the occult. The vilage of Barha in the state of Uttar Pradesh is only a three-hour car drive from the capital Delhi. Yet here evil medieval practices have made their ugly presence known. I was led by locals to a house that is kept under lock and key. They refuse to enter it. Peering through the window bars you can see the eerie dark room inside, with peeling posters of Hindu gods adorning the walls and bundles of discarded bedclothes. In one corner is the evidence we had come to find : blood-splattered walls and stained bricks. It is the place where a little boy's life was ritually sacrificed. Those who tortured and killed Akash Singh did so in a depraved belief - that the boy's death would offer them a better life. " The woman who did this was crazed, " the villagers say. " Akash was friends with all our children...We still cannot believe what happened here." Akash's distraught mother discovered her child's mutilated body. The family was told he was lured away with sweets and begged his captors to set him free. " First they cut out his tongue, " his grandmother Harpyari told me. " Then they cut off his nose, then his ears. They chopped off his fingers. They killed him slowly." The woman who abducted Akash lived just a few doors away. She claimed to be suffering from terrible nightmares and visions. It was then she turned for guidance to a tantric, or holy man. It was under his instruction that she brutally sacrificed the boy - offering his blood and remains to the Hindu goddess of destruction. There are temples across India that are devoted to the goddess. Childless couples, the impoverished and sick visit to pray that she can cure them. Animal sacrifice is central to worship - but humans have not been temple victims since ancient times. We were met with a hostile reception at the temple in Meerut. The high priest did not want us to see the ritual slaughter. Tantrics like him clearly have an overwhelming grip on their followers. Often they are profiting from people's fears. In extreme cases others have instructed their followers to kill. S. Raju is a journalist for the Hindustan Times and has been reporting on child sacrifice cases since 1997 in western Uttar Pradesh. He has reported on 38 similar cases. In one incident he says a tantric told a young man that if he hanged and killed a small boy and lit a fire at his feet the smoke from the ritual could be used to lure the pretty village girl he had his eye on. He has been campaigning for a crackdown on the practice of tantrics, alarmed by what he has seen. " The masses need to be educated and dissuaded from folowing these men," he said...We visited the jail where those accused of murdering Akash were being held. The prison warden told us of over 200 cases of child sacrifice over the last seven years. He admitted many of the cases go unreported because the police are reluctant to tarnish the image of their state. He told us incidents of child sacrifice are often covered up."[33].

The BBC News reported for March 27, 2003 : " Police have arrested a village priest in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh for allegedly carrying out a human sacrifice. The priest, Chandrabhan Singh Lodhi, is accused of sacrificing a low caste Hindu, or Dalit, to please the village goddess in Parsari village of Sagar district. Human sacrifice is illegal in India. But a few cases do come to light in socially and economically-backward regions. According to the police the priest, Chandrabhan Singh Lodhi, and the man he sacrificed, Alam Ahrirwar, had been searching for hidden treasure for a long time. Lodhi told the police on Saturday that the two had performed a lengthy ritual to appease the local goddess. As Alam Ahrirwar bowed his head to pay his respect to the deity, Lodhi cut his head off with a sword, the police say - all in the hope of discovering the hidden treasure. Mr. Ahrirwar's body was later recovered from a railway track. Police have registered a case of murder against Lodhi under the Indian Penal Code. Reports say 55-year-old Ahrirwar was a regular visitor to the temple and Lodhi often performed black magic on him. He is believed to have told his family members not to tell anyone his whereabouts, before he left for the temple on Saturday."[34]

AFP reported for December 12, 2003 : " A two-year-old boy was battered to death in a cowshed in New Delhi by a woman who had been told by a Hindu mystic that if she sacrificed a child her abusive husband would reform, a report said. The daily Times of India Friday said the woman, named only as Santosh, had taken the boy to the shed where she battered his head with a spade before strangling him. His body was found in a pool of blood in the cowshed in Nangloi, west Delhi, on Saturday night. The boy, Rahul, had been visiting his uncle in Nangloi when he disappeared. He had been on the way to the local shops with his sister Uma to buy sweets, police officer Satish Golcha said. " Finally his uncle found the boy's body in a cowshed behind his neighbor's house. There were injury marks to the head and the body was lying in a pool of blood," Golcha said. The officer said Santosh, who was visiting her brother in Nangloi, had confessed to the murder. She told police she was married to an autorickshaw driver named Vinod who got drunk and beat her up every day. In desperation she said she had gone to a tantrik who had told her that her husband would reform if she killed a child. Santosh's nephew, who allegedly helped in the murder and hid the blood-stained spade, is being questioned by police, who are also searching for the tantrik. A child sacrifice case was also reported to police in the eastern tribal state of Jharkand, where an eight-year-old boy was apparently killed by a group of men to appease Hindu gods. Police said Thursday that at least one person had died in protest over the killing in Burkunda district. Local police had on Wednesday arrested four people including a Hindu priest on charges of murdering the boy, named Munna, who had been missing since December 5. The following day a mob torched the priest's house and tried to burn down the police station where the accused were being held. The arrested men have confessed to sacrificing the boy in a ritual to appease Hindu gods, police said. Human sacrifices are not uncommon in the deeply poor tribal state."[35]

The Times of India reported on August 23, 2008 : " An old couple, along with their 12 accomplices, were arrested from a village in Risod Tehsil town in Washim district [Maharashtra state] for attempting to "sacrifice" their five-year-old granddaughter, according to police sources. The girl Ashia Kalandar Ali Pathan, police said, was to be sacrificed by her grandparents in the hope of getting a "hidden treasure". According to details, 14 persons including Ashia's grandparents, aunts and a man practicing witchcraft have been arrested. Sources said that the parents of the girl had allegedly given their assent to allow her to be sacrificed "to unearth a treasure trove". However, Ashia's parents left the residence for Chintur town in Marathwada region before the girl was to be sacrificed. The police acted on a tip-off from one of Ashia's neighbors Sajjad Khan Rajjad Khan Pathan who was shocked to see sacrificial rituals being performed on the girl. He lodged a complaint with the police who later registered offences. The man allegedly practicing witchcraft came from Chintur on the intervening night of July 20 and 21. Seven mobile phones and Rs 6500 cash were seized."[36]

The Times of India reported on January 28, 2008 : " ...a "treasure hunter" has been arrested for killing two women. The main accused, Ravindra, 24, murdered Aruna and Elizabeth after luring them to Bangalore Rural on the pretext of performing pujas. Ravindra, also known as Kadu Manushya alias Ajay, hails from Mulakatte in Nagamangala taluk. He, along with associate Mohan and accomplices Shekar, Ravikumar and Chandrashekhar, killed Aruna on December 25. He bludgeoned Elizabeth to death two days later. The cases have been registered in Bellur and Maddur in Mandya, respectively. Ravindra believed there is treasure beneath the earth in some divine places. His greed came to the fore when he stayed at the house of his friend Subbu in K P Agrahara. Subbu's grandfather told him there was a "treasure box" in the house, but said it was not possible to retrieve it. Ravindra consulted a tantrik (black magician) from Mysore to trace the treasure. The tantrik supposedly advised Ravindra to perform human sacrifice before digging up the nidhi (treasure). Ravindra then started looking for victims. " Ravindra's friend Shekar knew two women in the city. Shekar convinced them that Ravindra's puja would bring them good fortune. In three days, Ravindra took the women to different places in Mandya and killed them, " said Kalasipalya inspector S. K. Umesh, who headed the investigation. Aruna, who ran a boutique in Byatarayanapura, had financial problems. Shekar introduced her to Ravindra, and the duo took her to the banks of Vaishnavi river. After asking her to remove her jewellery, Ravindra asked Aruna to pray by closing her eyes, and smashed her head with a boulder. Two days later, he took Elizabeth to the banks of Shimsha river and bludgeoned her to death. Ravindra took away her debit cards. " He also had Elizabeth's daughter Rashmi's debit card. He told the husband that Elizabeth had met with an accident, and he had rescued her. He asked for the PIN number so that he could withdraw some money for treatment, " the officer added. " We suspect he had targeted another woman, but he is not revealing anything about that, " he said. The police are tracking down the "guru" who advised Ravindra. " My guru confirmed the treasure is in that house. But it's dangerous to dig it out without performing human sacrifice," Ravindra told the police. Ravindra had done a paramedical course. " People should not entertain any tricksters who approach them with ideas of puja for a better life, " a senior police officer said."[37]

The Times of India reported for January 3, 2002 : " In a gruesome incident, a temple priest chopped the head of an eight-year-old boy with a dagger to propitiate a deity by human sacrifice in a town in Bijnor district, police said on Thursday. The incident came to light when the boy hailing from Kalagarh was reported missing after he had gone to the Shiv temple to play with his friends, police said. His body was later recovered from the nearby bushes. On interrogation, the priest confessed to the crime, police said, adding the priest had been arrested."[38]

The Times of India reported on July 17, 2004 : " Two boys aged 5 and 13 were killed by slitting their throats, on Friday, in what appears to be a case of human sacrifice by a local pujari. The pujari, Rajesh Dwivedi, has been detained by the police and is being interrogated. Those killed were the sons of Mahendra Rajput, a Mata Colony businessman and Dwivedi's assistant, Rajesh. The incident took place shortly before 3 p.m., in the Vijaynagar police station area, bordering Delhi. Ghaziabad superintendent of police (city), Umesh Srivastava said: "It seems to be a case of human sacrifice at first sight. We have no other explanation in the case right now.""[39]

The Times of India reported on December 21, 2003 : " The Supreme Court has mandated the death penalty for perpetrators of human sacrifices. A bench of judges Doraiswamy Raju and Arjit Pasayat gave the ruling while upholding a judgment of the Jharkand High Court awarding capital punishment to a tribal who sacrificed a nine-year-old child to ensure his own prosperity. The bench rejected the argument of the appellant, Sushil Murmu, that though superstition was not expected and encouraged in modern society, an illiterate person born and brought up in an atmosphere surcharged with superstition should not be awarded the death penalty for a human sacrifice. "Superstition cannot and does not provide justification for any killing, much less a planned and deliberate one. No amount of superstitious color can wash away the sin and offence of an unprovoked killing, more so in the case of an innocent and defenceless child," the Bench contended. Holding human sacrifices to be crimes against humanity, the bench said that they were indicative of great depravity and shocked the conscience of not only every right thinking person but of the courts as well. Dealing with Murmu's case, the bench said that a bare look at the facts showed he was not possessed of basic humanness and completely lacked the psyche or mindset that could be amenable for reformation. At the time of the sacrifice, Murmu had a child of the same age as the victim and yet he diabolically designed in a most dastardly and revolting manner to kill a helpless child for personal gain and to promote his fortunes by pretending to appease the gods, the bench observed. Dismissing the appeal, the bench said that the socially abhorrent nature of the crime could not be ignored. "If this act is not revolting or dastardly, it is beyond comprehension as to what other act can be so described is the question," the bench said."[40]

The Times of India reported on December 11, 2004 : " Seven-year-old Asima Banu's highly decomposed body was recovered from a thicket a couple of blocks away from her home at Kandikai Gate on Friday morning. The body bore cut marks on the face and head. The victim's uncle, Mirza Ghouse Ali Baig, claimed it to be a case of human sacrifice. Asima, who was a student of Class 1, was missing from December 4. Her mother, Nasreen Begum, had pleaded with Chatrinkara sub-inspector Krishnamurthy and inspector Nagraj to mount a search. But they had turned her away and asked her to come back after December 6. Early on Friday, a vegetable vendor, who had gone to collect twigs, spotted the body."[41]

Kali

TIME magazine reported July 22, 2002 : " For the magic to work, the killing had to be done just right. If the goddess were to grant Khudu Karmakar the awesome powers he expected from a virgin's death, the victim had to be willing, had to know what was happening, watch the knife, and not stop it. But even tranquilizers couldn't lull 15-year-old Manju Kumari to her fate. In his police confession, Karmakar says his wife, daughter and three accomplices had to gag Manju and pin her down on the earthen floor before the shrine. In ritual order, Karmakar wafted incense over her, tore off her blue skirt and pink T-shirt, shaved her, sprinkled her with holy water from the Ganges and rubbed her with cooking fat. Then chanting mantras to the "mother" goddess Kali, he sawed off Manju's hands, breasts and left foot, placing the body parts in front of a photograph of a blood-soaked Kali idol. Police say the arcs of blood on the walls suggest Manju bled to death in minutes. Human sacrifice has always been an anomaly in India. Even 200 years ago, when a boy was killed every day at a Kali temple in Calcutta, blood cults were at odds with a benign Hindu spiritualism that celebrates abstinence and vegetarianism. But Kali is different. A ferocious slayer of evil in Hindu mythology, the goddess is said to have an insatiable appetite for blood. With the law on killing people more strictly enforced today, ersatz substitutes now stand in for humans when sacrifice is required. Most Kali temples have settled on large pumpkins to represent a human body; other followers slit the throats of two-meter-tall human effigies made of flour, or of animals such as goats. In secret ceremonies, however, the grisly practice lives on. Quite simply, say the faithful (known as tantrics) Kali looks after those who look after her, bringing riches to the poor, revenge to the oppressed and newborn joy to the childless. So far this year, police have recorded at least one case of ritual killing a month. In January, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, a 24-year-old woman hacked her three-year-old son to death after a tantric sorcerer supposedly promised unlimited earthly riches. In February, two men in the eastern state of Tripura beheaded a woman on the instructions of a deity they said appeared in their dreams promising hidden treasures. Karmakar killed Manju in Atapur village in Jharkand state in April. The following month, police dug up the remains of two sisters, aged 18 and 13, in Bihar, dismembered with a ceremonial sword and offered to Kali by their father. Last week on the outskirts of Bombay, maize seller Anil Lakshmikant Singh, 33, beheaded his neighbor's nine-year-old son to save his marriage on the advice of a tantric. Said Singh: "He promised that a human sacrifice would end all my miseries." Far from ancient barbarisms that refuse to die, sacrifice and sorcery are making a comeback. Sociologists explain the millions who now throng the two main Kali centers in eastern India, at Kamakhya and Tarapith, as what happens when the rat race that is India's future meets the superstitions of its past ... Tarapith in particular is a giant building site of new hotels, restaurants and stalls selling plastic swords and postcards of Kali's severed feet. Judging by the visitors here, Kali appeals to both rich and poor: the rows of SUVs parked outside four-star hotels belong to the ranks of businessmen and politicians lining up with their goats behind penniless pilgrims. ("The blood never dries at Tarapith," whispers one villager.) There are no human sacrifices at the temple these days. But the mystique of ritual killing is so powerful that even those who actually don't perform it claim to do so. In their camp in the cremation grounds beside the temple, a throng of tantrics tout for business by competing to be as spooky as possible, lining their mud-walled temples with human skulls and telling tall tales of human sacrifice. "I cut off her head," says 64-year-old Baba Swami Vivekanand of a girl he says he raised from birth. "We buried the body and brought the head back, cooked it and ate it." He pauses to demand a $2 donation. "Good story, no?""[42]

The Times of India reported March 24, 2007 : " The fast track court of Hazaribag on Friday awarded death sentence to one Mahavir Razak and life imprisonment to three others - Shashi Thakur, Subhash Bose alias Khepa Baba and Birju Bhuiyan - in the sensational human sacrifice case. The additional district and sessions judge, Ramendra Nath Roy, found all of them guilty of the crime and pronounced the judgement. The judge in his order said after examining all witnesses he found that Razak, only for the sake of fulfilling his personal ambition, kidnapped a child and sacrificed it before Goddess Kali. "This was a heinous crime and all the accused deserve severe punishment," said the judge. According to sources, Mahavir Razak, who was suffering from a serious disease, including TB, and could not be cured after treatment, approached Subhash Bose alias Khepa Baba, a tantrik, at his ashram in Bhurkunda. Baba assured Razak that he can be cured if he sacrifices a human being before Goddess Kali, sources said. Mahavir, then, approached a rickshaw puller, Birju Bhuiyan [also spelled Bhuyian and Bhuian in the original], who kidnapped a boy Munna Kumar, son of one Vijay Paswan on December 8, 2003, sources said and added that Razak, Baba and Bhuiyan took Munna to a lonely place and killed him by slitting his neck. When the child did not come back home, Paswan lodged an FIR with the police station concerned on December 9, 2003. The police recovered the body packed in a gunny bag thrown in the Nalkar river."[43]

The Times of India reported on August 5, 2008 : " A three-year-old boy of Chhokran village near Phillaur, who had been missing since Friday was found murdered on Sunday night in a distributary near Atta village. Police suspect it to be a case of human sacrifice, as he was kidnapped the day there was a solar eclipse. It has been learned that Jaydeep Singh, son of Narinder Singh, had gone missing from near his home around 10am on Friday. The parents and the villagers launched a search for him but without any success. Late on Sunday, a person discovered the child's body in a distributary near Atta and informed the police. Cops recovered the swollen body from the water and it was identified as Jaydeep. While a postmortem could not be conducted in the local civil hospital as the body had decomposed, it was conducted at the Government Medical College, Amritsar. However, police officers said it appeared the child was strangulated as his eyes had bulged out and some other indications also suggested likewise. Phillaur SHO Daljit Singh said while a case of murder had already been registered, police were working on the theory that it could be a case of human sacrifice, as he was kidnapped on the day of solar eclipse. The parents of the child were inconsolable as he was their only child and was born after 15 years of marriage."[44]

CNN Correspondent Suhasini Haidar reported for August 6, 2003 : " Crime isn't common in the small Indian village of Nan, a community of 5,000 in the central state of Uttar Pradesh, let alone the murder of a child. When the villagers heard about the killing of an eleven-year-old boy, they were stunned by its gruesome nature and the bizarre twist. Police suspect the victim, Ravinder, was killed by his own uncle who they say practiced Indian black magic, or what is called Tantra - the chilling practice of child sacrifice. "He was studying to be a black magician. We believe that's why he would have murdered the boy," investigating officer Dharm Vir Sharma told CNN. Child rights advocates say black magic sacrifices are uncommon but not unprecedented in parts of rural India. In this case, police say the suspected black magician was known to have sacrificed small animals at a temple near the village. But the story doesn't end there. Villagers told CNN that Ravinder's uncle took them to the very spot in the fields where the boy's body was found and then confessed to the ritual killing, before trying to run. They described how they caught him, the mob fury that spilt over and how the man was beaten to death. "What made us angry is that not only was the innocent boy disabled, but that he was killed by somebody he knew and trusted," a villager said. At the boy's funeral, people said they felt the suspected tantrik, or black magician, was a disgrace and were satisfied with what many called the "instant justice" he received. But Ravinder's father said no justice could make up for the loss of his boy. He just said he wonders what god could be pleased with the offering of his sweet-natured and helpless son, if this was a ritual sacrifice."[45]

Durga

Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui writes in the Times of India, October 21, 2004 : " A four-year-old girl, Garima Singh, was "sacrificed" by her neighbors to free their teenaged daughter Mamta from the influence of evil spirits. After the sacrifice, Garima's body was stuffed in a gunny bag and dumped at an abandoned house. The gory incident took place in Bajeta village under Lalpura police station in Hamirpur district and came to light on Wednesday when Mamta - an eyewitness to the bali (sacrifice) - narrated before the police what she saw at her house on Monday night. Hamirpur SP Arun Kumar Srivastava told Times of India over telephone that on Monday evening Lalpura police were informed about the disappearance of Garima by her father Jai Pal Singh - a well-off farmer of Bajeta. " On Tuesday morning, Garima's body was recovered from a gunny bag dumped in a secluded house," Srivastava said. Talking about Garima's sacrifice, Hamirpur SP AK Srivastava said: "The body bore nine injury marks inflicted by a sharp-edged weapon and prima facie evidences suggested that the victim had died not more than six hours before the recovery of the body. Jai Pal then lodged a case of murder but did not name anyone as accused," Srivastava said adding that the murmurs in the village, however, indicated possibility of human sacrifice. Investigations revealed that Garima was last spotted at the house of Babu Pandey - a laborer residing next door. As Babu Pandey and Jai Pal had very good relations, police needed something more before detaining any member of Pandey's family for grilling. However, on Wednesday, Mamta spilled the beans before the villagers when she gave a graphic description of what happened after Garima came to her house on Monday evening. "Her statements left even the police shocked," SP Hamirpur said. According to Mamta, 16, her mother Maya and uncle Pratap Narain alias Chote Lal Pandey first held Garima hostage. Around midnight they hacked her to death with an axe. Mamta said that as she could not stand the sight of the brutal killing and fled the scene after her mother struck Garima the first time. Mamta told the police that her mother believed that she was under the influence of some evil spirits which left her unwell almost the year round. A self-proclaimed tantrik Bihari Tewari, who visited the Pandey's a fortnight ago, reportedly advised them to offer a human life to Goddess Durga. " The tantrik also told Pandeys that the sacrifice must be offered during Nau Durga pooja and the victim, preferably a twin, must be hacked nine times for effective and immediate results," Srivastava said. At the instance of Mamta, police on Wednesday recovered a blood stained axe, a stone slab on which Garima was made to rest, a blood stained saree of Maya and a pair of trousers and a shirt belonging to Pratap Narain. Maya, Chote Lal and Bihari were then arrested."[46]

The Times of India reported on June 14, 2003 : " But for an employee of the Kamakhya temple authorities, one-and-half-year-old Taramai would have been the first human sacrifice in modern days at the Kamakhya temple that has a history of human sacrifices. The little girl was rescued by the devotees and the trust authorities just in time. She was rushed to the hospital as the sharp barber's razor used by Satya Das, who claims to be her father, left a deep cut on her neck. The 45-year-old Satya Das alias Amritlal Mazumdar claimed before the police that Taramai was his daughter. However, city superintendent of police Hiren Nath said: "We suspect that the girl is not his daughter. We are verifying this." Das has been arrested and [police] were interrogating him till the filing of this report. "We are confused at the varying statements the man has been making," Jalukbari police said. Das has told the police that he hails from Jamunamukh in Nagaon district of Assam but has been living for two years at Adingipahar, near the Kamakhya temple. He said he led his life like a "sadhu" but could not tell how he came with his infant "daughter" without any other relatives. Das, pleading not guilty, told police that he was "playing with a trishul (trident), it accidentally slipped out of his hand and pierced the girl's neck". The police, however, have recovered only a barber's knife."[47]

Scott Baldauf wrote in the Christian Science Monitor, December 3, 2003 : " Since the disappearance and death of his six-year-old son Monu in October, Narendra Kumar has learned that he was kidnapped and killed in a ritual human sacrifice. The perpetrators were childless neighbors who were desperate to have a son of their own. It was the 25th killing this year linked to Tantric practices - an ancient Indian form of witchcraft that many Indians use to solve problems like unemployment and infertility - and it has local people like Mr. Kumar calling for strong police action to stamp out such horrific crimes. "I never expected such a heinous crime against any child, let alone my own boy," says Kumar, seated on a cot in the courtyard of his small mud-brick home. "It is due to illiteracy and poverty that people get influenced by these Tantrics." ... Untold millions of Indians of all faiths, including government ministers and movie stars, swear by the ancient rituals and potions of Tantric priests and healers ... "Society has to come forward and say, "We don't accept this,"" says local police superintendent Sunil Kumar Gupta ... In the case of Monu, at least, Mr. Gupta says he has made sure that the killers will be punished. All five of the accused - including the childless couple, two of their relatives, and a Tantric priest - have confessed to killing Monu in a mango grove not far from the village. According to police documents, the wife confessed to bathing in Monu's blood, under priest's instruction. Gupta admits that his broader campaign to combat superstition will be more difficult. One problem is that there is no specific law against Tantric activities. As a result, he is arresting Tantrics under a section of Indian law that allows police to arrest people on the "apprehension of the breach of peace." In other words, Tantrics are being arrested because they may disrupt public order in the future. But Gupta says the larger problem in his state of Uttar Pradesh has to do with poverty, illiteracy and culture. Uttar Pradesh is both India's bread basket and home to a staggering 8 percent of the world's poor, according to World Bank estimates. Here, birth rates are high and literacy rates hover at just 57 percent. In this environment, Tantrics have long made a comfortable living. At railway stations and in newspapers, Tantrics still advertise their healing skills and draw patients from a cross section of society, rich and poor, educated and illiterate. Rajesh Khanna, a one-time movie star, and Sanjay Paswan, a government minister, both publicly swear by Tantrism ... Every major religion in India has made room for Tantrism at its fringes. Mohammad Nafees Malik, a well-dressed Muslim Tantric healer in the nearby city of Saharanpur, describes his practices. He listens to his patient's problem, writes out a relevant passage from the Koran, and places the inscription in a small metal capsule called a "tabiz". The capsule must be worn in constant contact with the patient's skin. Mr. Malik claims to have a 70 percent success rate. Since the police crackdown on Tantric healers, Malik says he has given up Tantrism and found other work. But he still feels angry at the "bad Tantrics" who have maligned his "art". "Tantrism has nothing to do with human sacrifice," he says. "If it is essential in the ritual to sacrifice something...then you can offer an animal like a rooster or a goat to satisfy the evil spirit." But in the village of Dehri, there will be no more room for Tantrism. Here villagers show off the charred homes of Monu's confessed killers, saying no Tantric will set foot in the town again."[48]

Indonesia

The BBC News reported April 27, 1998 : " A court on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has sentenced a traditional sorcerer to death for the murder of 42 women. Achmad Suradji was convicted at a court near the regional capital of Medan after several weeks of testimony from witnesses who said their relatives had disappeared while visiting him. There were cheers from a large crowd in the courtroom as the verdict was read out. More than 100 people had packed into the small courtroom while as many followed the proceedings outside on a television screen. Suradji remained impassive throughout. His lawyers say he will appeal against the sentence. The death penalty is rarely applied in Indonesia and it is not clear when, if ever, the sentence will be carried out. Police had charged Suradji of strangling the women as part of a black magic ritual intended to increase his magical powers. He was arrested on April 28 last year after a woman's body was found buried in a sugar cane field. She was last seen alive at his home. Suradji allegedly told police that since 1986 he had killed 42 women as part of a ritual to improve his healing powers. Police have since unearthed all 42 bodies from the field. The sorcerer said he began his killing spree after his late father contacted him in a dream and ordered him to murder 70 women in a black magic ritual. After strangling his victims, Suradji claimed he drank their saliva, believing it would improve his powers as a sorcerer. Suradji, who uses the alias Nasib Datuk Kelewang, was consulted by those seeking spiritual healing and good fortune. Many were thought to be seeking his help to make their husbands or boyfriends faithful. One of his three wives, Tumini, is charged with complicity in the crimes and is currently on trial at a separate court there...But according to the BBC's correspondent, these gruesome killings appear to have made no impact on the appetite for mystical guidance here. Sorcerers say that since Indonesia's economic crisis began, they have never had so many customers."[49]

Ireland

The BBC News reported on August 13, 2004 : " Police in Ireland are appealing for help in tracking down the killer of an African woman whose headless body was discovered three weeks ago. The body of 25-year-old Paiche Unyolo Onyemaechie, the daughter of Malawi's chief justice, was found near a stream in a rural area of the south-east. It is thought her remains may have lain there for more than a week. Police are investigating whether her death may have been some sort of ritualistic killing. Ms. Unyolo Onyemaechie arrived in Ireland more than three years ago and lived with her Nigerian husband and their two young children in the city of Waterford. Her father, Malawi's Chief Justice Leonard Unyolo, travelled to Ireland after receiving news of her death. Detectives are keen to trace the victim's husband, Chika, who is missing. Inspector Ray McHugh, from the Irish police force, the Garda Siochana, said: "We've got a lot of assistance from the African population here in Ireland and indeed the local population down in the south-east. We believe there are other people with certain information who would be able to progress this investigation, so basically what we're asking is for those people who do haver some information to please make it known to us." In recent days Irish detectives have visited British counterparts in London to find out about ritual killings."[50]

Italy

Satan

Independent Foreign Service/www.iol.co.za reported on October 13, 2004 : " The publication on Tuesday of chilling diary entries by the alleged leader of a satanic gang accused of three murders in a small town outside Milan, has helped to shed light on a case that has shocked Italy. The group of heavy metal fans are facing prosecutors this week to a