Drama As Nigerian Court Engages Herbalist To Extract Confession From Three Murder Suspects

It was some mild drama that took place recently in an Adamawa State court, when a herbalist was invited to cast a spell on three murder suspects in order to obtain confessional statements from them.

SaharaReporters reports that a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Song town, in the Song local government area, on Tuesday, invited one Garkuwa Sarkin Mayu, who used charms to extract confessional statements from the suspects.

The accused are standing trial on alleged killing of a boy and torturing of one other for a period of one year by bewitchment.

The suspects, Mallam Yusuf, Samaila Adamu and Gaji Mallam Yusuf, had pleaded not guilty to bewitching and murdering a child.

Frustrated by their plea, the court invited a herbalist, one Sarkin Mayu, who asked the boy who was allegedly bewitched to lie down on the floor and ordered all the defendants to walk across him three times.

After they did as ordered, after which they started confessing that they actually bewitched the boy, but that they had removed whatever evil spell cast upon him already.

One Abubakar Umaru, had alleged that the accused persons entered his house in the year 2020, and bewitched three of his children Suleimanu, Nafisa and Yusuf, and that sometimes later, Yusuf, died.

He explained further that on October 30, 2021, he took one of his surviving children, Suleimanu, who had been sick for a year to Sarki Mayu who applied some herbs on him.

The boy thereafter started mentioning the names of the suspects.

He informed the court that he was left with no option than to sue them so as to restore the health of his child.

He therefore, urged the court to punish the suspects if found guilty, and that the court should order them to pay him the sum of N500,000, the amount he used in treating three of his children.

Following the confessional statements after the magician's service, Chief Magistrate Abdulrazaq Adamu, issued a remand order and send the accused to a Yola correctional centre facility till November 9, 2021.

Commenting on the matter, a Yola based lawyer, Barr. Sunday Wugira, described the procedure as an abuse of court process.

Wugira informed that the law prohibits the use of magical powers or any fetish means to obtain statements. "This is called trial by ordeal.”

He furthered, "The position of the law is that anyone who represents himself to be in possession of charm which is intended to be used to compel any person to do an act which such a person has a legal right to refrain from doing, shall be punished as provided under section 186 paragraph (a) and (b) of the penal code law.”