The Harm

Mothers charged of murder in ‘witchcraft’ torching

Malawi Police has pressed murder charge to two mothers for burning their children to death in a ritual to exorcise demons.

Chifundo Chibwezo, Police spokesperson for Limbe Police Unit in the commercial city of Blantyre said Agness Kamanga-Gadama, 30, and Catherine Kamanga, 23 have been charged with murder for allegedly torching to death two children - aged three and seven - to exorcise them of “witchcraft”.

“We have charged them with murder,” said Chibwezo. “They both deny the charge,” he said.

Police arrested the women, members of the Assemblies of God church, after being tipped off by villagers who became suspicious of the smoke and noises from the house occupied by the sisters.

The suspects had locked up a total of four children in a squattertown house for a week to “pray and fast to cast out demons”.

The children allegedly confessed to practicing witchcraft.

“The women insist their children had demons that needed exorcising,” said Limbe Police Unit spokesman.

The two children who died on the spot were aged three and seven years, the police said.

Thanks to Amanda at Skepchick I bring you this.

Gracia likes watching television - mostly soaps and cartoons, but sometimes the news.

The young woman, tall and thin with braided hair coiled on her head, is doing well at school and wants to be a doctor.

She had been sent back to DR Congo by her father and step-mother, after living with them in Tottenham, north London, for several years.

She is thought to be among hundreds of African children living in the UK and sent back to DR Congo or Angola after being accused of witchcraft.

Traumatised

The issue came to light in the summer of 2005, when a court in London heard the case of a young girl who was tortured after being accused of being possessed.

The jury learnt a new word, kindoki. It is what the Congolese call witchcraft.

After I first reported on Gracia’s plight in Kinshasa, one listener was so moved she began sending money to support the girl.

Now, Gracia lives with her aunt and can afford school fees.

Inside her home there is a television and three sofas, and her mother has come to visit.

Gracia tells me how thankful she is for the financial help she has received, and talks about her favourite lessons, living with her aunt, and the holidays.

But when I ask her to tell me what led her father and step-mother to accuse her of witchcraft, she does not reply.

Often these accusations can be a way of ridding a family of an extra mouth to feed.

Gracia is “very traumatised”, says Adolphine Kumbaki, who runs a charity called Bantu Cocorico, which has been helping to look after Gracia.

“To say a child is a witch is very, very dangerous,” she says, and many such children are abandoned.

Aid agencies think that the most of the 13,000 children sleeping rough in Kinshasa have been accused of kindoki.

Stigma

Gracia’s mother says that even though life is much better for her daughter, her daughter longs to return to London.

Asked if London or Kinshasa feels like home, Gracia replies simply: “London.”

“I don’t like being here, I don’t like the schools here, I don’t want to stay here,” she says.

Gracia is doing well at school, and wants to be a doctor

Her mother says she would like Gracia to return to the UK.

“She isn’t happy, she always thinks of returning,” she says.

A child must suffer cause of the crazy beliefs of her parents.

They sought help, but got exorcism and the Bible

A SECRETIVE ministry with direct links to Gloria Jean’s Coffees and the Hillsong Church has been deceiving troubled young women into signing over months of their lives to a program that offers scant medical or psychiatric care, instead using Bible studies and exorcisms to treat mental illness.

Government agencies such as Centrelink have also been drawn into the controversy, as residents are required to transfer their benefits to Mercy Ministries. There are also allegations that the group receives a carers payment to look after the young women.

Mercy Ministries says 96 young women have “graduated” from its program since its inception in 2001. But many have been expelled without warning and with no follow up or support.

Naomi Johnson, Rhiannon Canham-Wright and Megan Smith (Megan asked to use an assumed name) went into Mercy Ministries independent young women, and came out broken and suicidal, believing, as Mercy staff had told them repeatedly, that they were possessed by demons and that Satan controlled them.

Only careful psychological and psychiatric care over several years brought them back from the edge.

Taking in girls and women aged 16 to 28, Mercy Ministries claims to offer residents support from “psychologists, general practitioners, dietitians, social workers, [and] career counsellers”. These claims are made on its website, and the programs are promoted through Gloria Jean’s cafes throughout Australia.

But these former residents say no medical or psychological services were provided - just an occasional, monitored trip to a GP, where the consultation takes place in the presence of a Mercy Ministries staff member or volunteer.

Instead, the program is focused on prayer, Christian counselling and expelling demons from in and around the young women, who say they begged Mercy Ministries to let them get medical help for the conditions they were suffering, which included bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and anorexia.

When the Herald asked Mercy Ministries representatives whether they told young women that the symptoms of their mental illness or eating disorders were due to demonic activity and that residents were forced into exorcisms, they offered no denial.

“Mercy Ministries staff address the issues that the residents face from a holistic client-focused approach; physical, mental, emotional. The program is voluntary and all aspects are explained comprehensively to the residents and no force is used,” the executive manager of programs, Judy Watson, said in response.

Throughout its website, decorated in hot pink tones with images of happy young women who have been “saved”, Mercy claims to offer its residential programs free. Yet the services are not free - young women on unemployment benefits are “asked” to sign them over to Mercy, while others are asked to make a donation for expenses.

Whats even worse is that many in Mercy Ministries probably actually think there helping

Girl’s death a botched exorcism?
A 4 year old girl was brought into a hospital dead, she had been severely beaten with a belt, a cane and hands and had cigarette burns.
The Neighbours say it was a botched exorcism but the police are calling it a murder after a post mortem that revealed she had been strangled.
The police have arrested the girls 25 year old mother and are looking for her live in boyfriend and there 2 month old daughters.
The grandparents were hoping to meet Cheah (the little girl) but the mother never showed up.
Her uncle, identified only as Cheah, was distraught and cried

Look at her body… look at her body… how could this happen,

Indeed. How could this happen?

British tax payer money wasted on an exorsism

Council payed a psychic £60 to exorcise a house of ghosts.