Two widows, Mrs. Martina Osom and Mrs. Rose Akom, have been tortured to death by some youths, after being accused of witchcraft, in Cross River State. This happened on the morning of Saturday, August 27, in the Ebbaken community in Boje, Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State.
An eyewitness, who is a relation to one of the widows, who had spoken on the condition of anonymity had said that both women had been devout Catholics and had been returning from early morning mass service when the youths accosted the women and accused them of initiating a member of the Ebbaken community into witchcraft.
He had said: “They met my mother-in-law within the Church environment. As it was her tradition to weed and clean up the Church vicinity every Saturday immediately after the Morning Mass. The youths accused her of initiating a member of the community into witchcraft and she denied the allegation. But they went ahead and beat her severely, ordering her to confess that she is a witch. But her passionate appeal to them that she was innocent fell on deaf ears.”
The other woman, Mrs. Rose Akom, had been dragged to join the anonymous man’s mother-in-law and had been tortured by the individuals forcing her to confess to allegations that she was a witch.
“They were both tied with strong ropes and beaten in the rain all through the day until they died,” he added.
As of this report, no arrest had been made and the culprits are still at large in the community.
