Police in Kigali, yesterday, paraded a group of eight people accused of using witchcraft and brutally torturing a 17-year-old mentally ill boy. The prime suspect, Julienne Mukashema, who claims to be a traditional healer, argued that she met the victim on the streets and took him to her home in Kacyiru, Gasabo District (where she apparently had a shrine) after learning that he had mental illness. When Police arrived at Mukashema’s home in Kabizi Cell on Tuesday night, they found the victim chained outside. The victim had his hands tied behind his back with a metallic chain locked with a padlock and his waist strapped on a slab to keep him on the ground. “There was a lot of noise coming from Mukashema’s home, people were drumming, singing and screaming on top of their voices, so we went there to stop the noise. Reaching there, we found the boy chained and he had been brutally beaten with bruises all over his body,” said the Central Region Police spokesperson, Superintendent Modeste Mbabazi. “Police arrested Mukashema and her seven accomplices that were in the house performing rituals on the victim under the pretext of treating him,” he said. “We have identified the victim’s family and we are in the process of taking him to hospital for treatment. We encourage people to always report such malpractices.” Mukashema confessed to torturing the victim, arguing that it was a means to ensure he did not move as she performed rituals on him. She told Police that she is a member of a cult called ‘Abarungi’, claiming that she would not give up on her beliefs. “I have treated other people with mental problems and I always chain them and treat them the same way,” said Mukashema. However, Mbabazi said: “What these people were doing to this boy is not traditional healing; traditional healers are registered and operate in an organised way. What these people were doing is criminal.” He added that the suspects will be charged with torture and noise pollution. The victim’s father, Vincent Sindikubwabo, said: “My son has had a mental problem since childhood, but he went missing in May. It’s just yesterday that a policeman identified him and notified me. My son is sick; he should not be tortured or mistreated in anyway.”
