Faith Nyasuguta
Criminals in Kenya have resorted to witchcraft and other unorthodox methods in a bid to evade detection by detectives.
The revelation comes as a Kenyan woman who allegedly stole money from a government official’s homestead where she worked as a domestic worker has been nabbed at a witchdoctor’s shrine, police say.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested alongside her partner at the “renowned witchdoctor’s house” in a town near the capital, Nairobi, “where she had gone to seek protection” from arrest.
The detectives found the suspect as she was being immersed in a basin containing blood from a dead fowl, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said in a statement.
“Upon noticing the detectives, the elderly witch doctor pronounced endless incantations in an attempt to keep them at bay, but that did not deter the sleuths from executing their mission much to the bemusement of [the suspect], who had closed her eyes expecting the sleuths to vanish,” the statement added.
The DCI also tweeted pictures of the paraphernalia that was allegedly being used by the witchdoctor (pictures in the featured image).
The alleged theft of 4m shillings ($33,700) and jewellery from the state official’s home is said to have happened last month and the suspect is said to have been at large.
The police have cautioned criminals from wasting time seeking witchcraft services as they will not save them from arrest.
“Detectives rely on actionable intelligence supported forensically through science that cannot be challenged by the dark powers of a witch doctor,” the DCI said.