15-Year-Old Murder For Being A 'Witch'

As a man and woman were convicted of murdering a 15-year-old boy they believed to be a witch police and groups representing African communities have warned that the ritualised abuse of children branded as witches is a hidden and under-reported crime in the UK.

Believing evil spirits possessed him, Magalie Barnu and Eric Bikubi murdered his brother Kristy Bamu, Magalie’s brother, in their east London flat after violently abusing him for several days.

Kristy, who was visiting his sister from France for Christmas, suffered a "prolonged attack of unspeakable savagery and brutality", as he was tortured with metal bars, a chisel, a hammer and a pair of pliers over four days.

Detective Superintendent Terry Sharpe said the Met police had done a great deal of work to understand and deal with belief-based child abuse. "However, this is a hidden and under-reported crime and therefore difficult to deal with in terms of protecting potential victims from harm," he said.

Kristy’s horrific ordeal began soon after he arrived in London on December 16 2010. Eric Bikubi, a man he thought of as his uncle accused him of witchcraft after he wet himself. Kristy and his two sisters when then forced to pray and denied food and sleep in attempts to “remove the kindoki”, the Lingala word for witchcraft.

Magalie Barnu, Kristy’s brother, then joined Bikubi as they focused their attention on the 15-year-old. They beat him with a metal weight lifting bar, forced him to eat a screw and hit him in the face with a hammer knocking out teeth.

On December 25, Kristy was forced alongside his sister into a bath to try to wash away the evil spirits. As the bath filled Kristy was submerged and drowned.

Pathologists later revealed he had suffered 101 injuries.

In a joint statement, the NSPCC and World Vision said Kristy's was not an isolated case: "The vast majority of people in the communities where it can take place are horrified by these acts and take no part in this atrocious behaviour, so we must not be afraid to challenge these communities to out the wrong-doers within them.”

(H/GK)