Some irate youth in Wantugu, a community in the Gushegu municipality in the Northern Region have allegedly attacked and destroyed properties of a man believed to be in his 50s on suspicion of witchcraft.
THE CUSTODIAN has gathered that the victim, Alhassan Iddrisu, is accused of being behind the illness of one Alhassan Musah after the accused person allegedly gave him mango to eat a few weeks ago.
According to eyewitness accounts, the assailants raided the house of the accused person midnight of Saturday, June 17, to kill him but he was not found.
One of the nine children of the alleged witch, Inusah Alhassan, in an exclusive interview said the father was doing well but was left in a state of shock as a result of the incident.
He narrated the family heard some noise whilst sleeping at midnight and when they rushed out from the house, they saw fire burning and the attackers started pelting them with stones.
“They burnt almost three rooms roofed with thatch and the rooms [about eight rooms] that are roofed with zinc, they destroyed almost the whole house, so no one can even sleep in the house for now” he said.
He added the father has been relocated for safety and his siblings have all moved to seek shelter and protection from other family relations in other parts of the community to avoid further attacks.
THE CUSTODIAN has learned that five other individuals ate the same mango that the accused person allegedly used to bewitch the sick person [Musah Alhassan].
According to Inusah, the Chief and elders of the community have made efforts to resolve the matter until the youth stage the unfortunate attack.
THE CUSTODIAN’s Northern Regional Correspondent, Mohammed Gadafi, has gathered that the case has since been reported to the Gushegu Municipal Police. The police have since commenced investigations into the matter.
Meanwhile, this incident comes barely a month after a similar witchcraft accusation led to the lynching of two persons at Zakpalsi in the Mion district of the northern region.
While most victims are physically assaulted and often chased out of their communities and their properties destroyed, several others have also ended up losing their lives in the hands of their accusers in the struggle for rescue.
But the government and civil society organizations have continuously campaigned and sensitized community members against such human right violations but such cases keep reoccurring every now and then.
