Epileptic abused and accused of witchcraft, beaten to pulp

A video available to 3FM reveals an unpleasant treatment meted out to another woman accused of witchcraft by a traditional priestess at Aportoyiwa in the Ahafo Region.

This is coming on the back of a similar attack in which the 90-year old Akua Denteh was lynched.

In the case of the Ahafo incident, Mariatu Iddrisu, a 46-year-old mother of five who lives with her husband in Mim Zongo, a suburb of Goaso in the Ahafo region suffered the unfortunate incident six months ago after visiting a priestess in the community in an attempt to get cure for his epilepsy, an illness she is said to have battled with for the past seven years.

Giving an account of the incident on the 3FM’s Sunrise, the husband of the victim Iddrisu Dramani said his wife’s friend recommended a fetish priestess in the area by name Akosua Naaba, believed to be very powerful in the healing people.

According to the husband, he made a payment of GH¢200 to the priestess towards the healing process.

Iddrisu said his wife returned home later with a baldhead and marked in awful bruises because of excessive beating with a cutlass by the priestess but unfortunately without a cure.

The husband said his wife was accused of witchcraft after she started manifesting strangely under the influence of a powder she was given to sniff by the priestess.

Mr. Iddrisu further revealed the priestess threatened and attempted to cut the throat of Mariatu, an act that was halted due to the pleas of some witnesses at the scene of the incident.

The incident was reported to the traditional authorities in the Goaso community but nothing good came out.

Later, the police detained the priestess and processed the case for court. However, six months on Iddrisu and his wife Mariatu are still in court.

According to him, the court keeps postponing after every two weeks, an experience Iddrisu describes as frustrating and economically difficult for them especially because he cannot afford a lawyer and relies solely on the testament of a prosecutor, unlike the priestess who has a lawyer to represent her at court always.

Meanwhile, the campaign Fundraiser at Amnesty International, Samuel Agbotse gave an assurance of providing legal services to the victim and her husband. According to Amnesty International, the family is traumatized and face stigmatization due to the witchcraft allegations leveled against the victim.

Watch video below