This archive report was first published on 31 July 2019.
On Monday evening, a dramatic scene unfolded in Bura Ndogo village, Taveta sub-county, when a Tanzanian witchdoctor and his accomplice were apprehended by members of the public following a failed attempt to resurrect a teenager who had taken his own life in 2017.
The witchdoctor, accompanied by a young man who bore a striking resemblance to the deceased, had arrived at the homestead on Sunday evening, claiming that the young man was the resurrected son.
Despite the family members and neighbors initially believing the story, things took a turn for the bizarre when the witchdoctor declared that the family had been bewitched into thinking they had buried a mirror image of their son.
As hundreds of villagers flocked to witness the miracle, the resurrected man remained silent, with the witchdoctor attributing his silence to 'trauma from ordeals he had experienced in the demonic dimensions where he was allegedly held as a slave.'
However, the villagers were not convinced, and by late Monday afternoon, the compound was teeming with curious onlookers who had started casting doubt on the resurrection story.
When the area chief arrived to verify the claims, he dismissed the whole drama as an elaborate con-game, and the villagers, enraged at being taken for a ride, apprehended the witchdoctor, the resurrected boy, and the home owner, frog-marching them to the police station.
Along the way, the boy miraculously regained his speech powers and pleaded his innocence, admitting that he had been persuaded to come to Kenya for a well-paying job and had accepted the offer.
Speaking to KNA on Tuesday, Taveta Deputy County Commissioner Stanley Kamande termed the entire incident as a hoax, suggesting that the witchdoctor might have colluded with the father of the victim to hoodwink the villagers.
The suspects will be charged with providing false information amongst other offences.
