This archive report was first published on 5 August 2019.
On August 5, 2019, a bizarre incident unfolded in Bura Ndogo village, Taveta sub-county, after a Tanzanian witchdoctor and his accomplice were arrested by members of the public.
The drama began when the witchdoctor, accompanied by a look-alike of the teenager who had committed suicide in 2017, arrived at the homestead.
Strikingly, the look-alike had a resemblance to the deceased teenager, convincing some family members and neighbors that the young man was indeed the one they had buried two years ago.
The witchdoctor claimed that the family had been bewitched to believe they had buried their son, and that the 'resurrected' teenager was a 'mirror image' of their late son.
However, the 'resurrected' boy failed to speak, and the witchdoctor attributed this to his trauma from being held captive in a 'demonic dimension'.
As the villagers began to doubt the resurrection story, the area chief arrived to verify the claims and dismissed the whole drama as an elaborate con-game.
Angry villagers descended on the witchdoctor and his team, but the timely intervention of the police rescued them.
During the rescue, the 'resurrected' boy miraculously regained his speech powers and pleaded his innocence, stating that he had been persuaded to come to Kenya for a well-paying job.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the father of the deceased had been paid and colluded with the witchdoctor to hoodwink the public in a bid to attract clients.
