Four Family Members Killed, House Demolished Over Witchcraft Claims

Tanzanian police said on Friday that 34 suspects were arrested following the killing of four villagers from the same family after they were suspected of involving in witchcraft.

Liberatus Sabas, Chief of Police Operations and Training, said that the suspects were arrested in a crackdown in the Kigoma region between Jan. 4 and Jan. 9, 2020.

“Police are still investigating the suspects before charging them to court on murder charges,” Sabas said in the Lake Tanganyika shore town of Kigoma.

On Jan. 4, authorities said that four villagers from the same family were killed and their houses demolished by fellow villagers in western Tanzania.

The victims were suspected of involvement in witchcraft.

Evans Buchonko, a Councillor for Msambara Ward in Kasulu District in Kigoma Region, said that the victims included a pregnant woman.

Buchonko said that a group of angry villagers raided houses of the victims on Friday afternoon and attacked them with machetes.

“The villagers also destroyed the victims’ belongings before they demolished their houses and farms,” Buchonko said, appealing to the government to arrest the culprits and prosecute them.

Simon Anange, Kasulu District Commissioner, appealed for calmness, saying security organs have launched investigations into the killings.