A Malawian High Court has found guilty a Catholic priest and 11 others of killing a man with albinism with the intent to use his body parts for witchcraft rituals.
MacDonald Masambuka, 22, was gruesomely murdered in 2018 and some suspects were arrested in connection with his death, and their trials have since been ongoing.
Interestingly, the deceased’s own brother was also among the people who have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing.
The murder of Masambuka follows a spike in gruesome killings of people with albinism, resulting in over 40 murders and 145 assaults on them.
The perpetrators of these murders hold the false belief that using body parts of albinos engenders wealth and luck.
Speaking after the court proceedings, Malawi’s director of public prosecutions, Steve Kayuni, told AFP that Masambuka’s brother had conspired with other accomplices to kill him.
The convicted brother of the deceased lured him to meet his friends, who he claimed had found him [Masambuka] a woman to marry. Little did he know that they were going to kill him.
“MacDonald was betrayed by those he had trust in, namely the brother, the priest, the policeman, and the clinical officer. These are positions of trust,” the official said, as quoted by Thecitizen.co.tz.
The High Court on Thursday concluded that the 12 plotted to kill Masambuka to extract his bones for rituals that they were hoping to benefit from financially.
Reading the decision, judge Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga said: “This is a violation of the right to human life and the greatest violation of the rights to life and integrity for persons with albinism.”
Sentencing of the convicts has been set for May 31.
Meanwhile, the court’s ruling has sparked reactions among activists. Former UN rapporteur on albinism, Ikponwosa Ero, lamented that the latest discovery “points to a serious safety issue for people with albinism in Malawi”.
Steve Kayuni, revealed that there are around 20 cases under prosecution in Malawi courts involving the murder, attempted murder, exhumation, and selling of body tissue of people with albinism.
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