Five acquitted in Mimboman ritual killings

Five of 10 suspects in the Mimboman ritual killings affair have been freed after a Yaounde court judged failed to establish charges against them. Their arrest from 18 months ago - was linked to a series of ritual killings of young women between the ages of 12 and 25 in the Mimboman neighbourhood of Yaounde.

The killings shocked the nation causing panic in the capital city for months. Bertrand Ndeambou, Jean Thierry Waffo, Landry Tiotsop, Willy Nguegang, Julius Nkemta, François Mbukam, Jean Luc Tahoc, Emmanuel Nono, Ousmane Guessama and Eric Kamwa were all accused of being the perpetrators of the killings in Mimboman.

Consequently, they were apprehended in March last year and detained at the Kondengui Central Prison in Yaounde. After an 18-month inquest, Pierre Osé Mpondo, Judge at the Mfoudi Court of First Instance in Yaounde decided on freeing François Mbukam, Jean Luc Tahoc, Emmanuel Nono, Ousmane Guessama and Eric Kamwa on grounds that “no charge has been leveled against them.” Meanwhile Bertrand Ndéambou, Jean Thierry Waffo, Landry Tiotsop, Willy Nguegang and Julius Nkemta were charged with murder, aggravated rape and violation of corpse. They risk sentences of up to life jail if found guilty.

The Mimboman saga started in late 2012 with the discovery of lifeless bodies of a dozen young girls including Marinette Majini, Calixte Momo, Claude Michèle Mballa Mvogo, Loyse Schiphra Mendjina Mbanga and Germaine Nga Ngono. This triggered what was later to be called the “Mimboman ritual killings affair.”

In the months of December 2012 and January 2013, a series of killings were committed in Mimboman, Biteng, Okui, Nkomo and Nkoabang, all Yaounde neighbourhoods. Most of the victims were discovered with amputated body parts mostly the genital and the eyes. Not only families of victims were shocked by these heinous acts but everyone in Mimboman and its environs.

As a measure to put an end to the ritual killings, the 4th district police station in Yaounde opened investigations into the acts. In the course of their probe, the investigators came across one Bertrand Ndeambou who used the cell phone of a victim, Calixte Momo, to make calls soon after she was murdered. Arrested, Bertrand Ndeambou confessed his involvement with the series of crimes.

While in custody, Ndeambou denounced a certain Emmanuel Nono, a wealthy businessman as the mastermind of the killings and Jean Luc Tahoc, resident in Bafoussam as the intermediary, the one whom he had contacted for the delivery of human organs. These two individuals were arrested as well as several others.

Eventually, the number came to 10 suspected squeezing life out of a dozen young girls between December 2, 2012 and January 10, 2013.

The Mimboman killings occurred at the beginning of an elections year. According to Begnono Bengono, specialist on supernatural happenings, the incidents were not a strange phenomenon in Cameroon. He asserted that during every electoral year in Cameroon, young people die. It is believed that certain parts of their bodies are used for rituals to enable politicians remain in power or win elections.

In some parts of the country traditional healers believe that body parts including eyes, genitals, breasts and tongues have mystical powers, with many believing they bring riches and other good fortune. Others believe that performing a human sacrifice will bring good fortunes. Ritual killings were common in Cameroon until the 1970s but as education and Christianity, the number of murders have decreased. This is perhaps why families feared the practice was coming back, giving the wave of killings that caused near-hysteria in Yaounde.