Woman survives lynching over sorcery allegations

There was pandemonium in the Jovajo area of Etoudi neighbourhood of Yaounde recently when an angry mob of neighbours almost snuffed life out of a woman, Abena Bridgette.

She was accused of bewitching her daughter-in-law, Megouya, Captain Mamoun François, Commander of the Yaounde I Gendarmerie Company, told Cameroon Tribune recently.

The crowd pounced on Abena after Megouya raised an alarm following her discovery of a macabre perfume bottle wrapped around her second twin in the baby’s cot where the babies were kept, he said.

The mother-in-law was alone in the home where she had just finished bathing the twins; while their mother was outside.

Megouya said she called in neighours after discovering her passport-size picture, a dead lizard, black thread and other juju inside the bottle. She accused Abena Bridgette of placing the fetish object in the bay’s cot, adding that she was also responsible for her paralysis two weeks earlier.

According to Megouya, she dreamt that her mother-in-law, who arrived from the village to assist her deliver two months earlier, had bewitched her and she was paralysed. Megouya said when she got up the following morning, the dream became reality.

Abena Bridgette was rescued from being lynched to death by gendarmes of the Etoudi Gendarmerie Post, Captain Mamoun said. The woman, who is still in gendarmerie custody, told officers that if she “loosened” the juju bottle, her daughter-in-law would become normal again.

Meanwhile, Megouya’s husband, Messina Sylvain, who was away at the time of the incident, later took the defence of his mother, arguing that she was not responsible for any sorcery practice.