Posted on 01/27/2002 11:56:23 AM PST by csvset
Police suspect 'torso boy' to be witch victim
His body part was found floating on Thames
By Alfred Lee
STRAITS TIMES EUROPE BUREAU
LONDON - Police believe that a five-year-old boy whose dismembered torso was found floating in the River Thames under London's famous Tower Bridge was the victim of an African witch doctor.
The black boy's head, hands and feet were cut off and are still missing.
Similar torsos of two young black boys have recently been found in Belgium and Germany, raising police fears that witch doctors have moved into Europe and are carrying our serial ritual killings of African youngsters.
In London, detectives revealed they have just found seven half-burned candles wrapped in a white cotton bedsheet bearing African words, on the banks of the Thames, close to where the torso was found.
The sheet had the Ivory Coast or Nigerian name Adekoyejo Fola Adeoya written three times.
It was also inscribed on some of the candles.
Commander Andy Baker of Scotland Yard police said: 'We believe we are dealing with Britain's first ritual muti murder.
'Muti is a Zulu word for medicine and witch doctors who practise muti killings believe that a child's body parts can be used to make potions which can heal clients of serious illnesses.'
Experts in African witchcraft say that witch doctors grind a youngster's feet, arms, brain and vertebrae into power to cure anything from arthritis, infertility and memory loss to bad luck.
The medicine is also said to promote longevity and was considered a potent aphrodisiac.
Experts say that in black magic terms, children's bodies are far more valued by witch doctors than adults.
Young bodies have greater power and over 90 per cent of muti killing victims in Africa are aged 10 and under.
Scotland Yard is flying an expert in muti killings, Dr H.J. Scholtz of Johannesburg University, to London to help in investigations.
He is expected to examine the torso of the boy, called Adam by police, tomorrow.
Bob.
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