Mob attacks second aleged kidnapper in Luenha, Tete

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Mob attacks second aleged kidnapper in Luenha, Tete

8:19 CAT | 04 May 2016

For the second time in less than a week an angry mob in the western Mozambican province of Tete on Tuesday destroyed property belonging to a man suspected of kidnapping children.

The incident took place in Luenha, capital of Changara district, where the crowd burnt down two houses and a vehicle belonging to the alleged kidnapper, a Zimbabwean citizen resident in Luenha, and identified only by the nickname “Rasta”.

The police intervened, firing into the air in an attempt to disperse the protestors. The police were able to save “Rasta” from almost certain death at the hands of the mob, but they could not prevent the torching of his houses and car.

One Luenha citizen, in contact with AIM, said “the people want to free themselves of criminals who are killing our children for their own enrichment”.

“Last year Rasta was suspected of transporting Mozambican and Malawian children whom he had kidnapped on the border between Tsangano district and Malawi”, this man added. “Suddenly we saw he was no longer in jail and was walking around in Changara district”.

The man asked reporters to not to identify him “because these criminals have money and they can make me disappear from this world”.

The first attack on an alleged kidnapper in Changara occurred on Friday. This man, a Mozambican named Jordao Bacalhani David, living in Cuchamano, on the border with Zimbabwe, was accused of purchasing a nine year old girl from her mother, and then murdering and dismembering her. He allegedly cut out her genitals, eyes, teeth, nose, lips and tongue as well as her arms and legs, for use in superstitious rituals.

In Cuchamano, as in Luenha, an angry mob gathered, bent on taking the law into their own hands, and burnt down David’s house and car.

It is not yet clear whether there is any solid evidence against either of the victims of this mob justice. The police say they are working on both cases, but cannot yet give any details to journalists.

Source: AIM