A court has sentenced a man to death by hanging after murdering his twin daughters in 2017
The man, Anyanime Festus, condemned his identical twin daughters, Emediong Festus and Mfoniso Festus, both 11 years old, as witches, and then murdered them.
On the 11th of January 2017, the man convinced his daughters that he was taking them to their mother.
He then stopped on the way and gave them both poisoned malt to drink before leaving them in a bushy area
Locals later discovered the sisters laying along the Uyanga bush route in Akamkpa, Cross River state, with one of them dead and the other unable to talk. Before she died in the hospital, she finally spoke up and informed them what their father had done.
Honorable Justice A. A. Onyebueke of the Cross River State High Court, sitting in Akamkpa, condemned Anyanime Festus to death by hanging on February 15.
Barr. James Ibor of the Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (BRCI) reacted to the decision saying: “This is a great victory to the victims- Mfoniso Anyanime and Emediong Anyanime and the Government of Cross River State at a period witchcraft branding and ritual killing has become a pastime in the State.
“The United Nations has urged nations to take measures against abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs and ritual sacrifice.
“Stop Witchcraft accusations, witch persecution, and ritual killing. Blood money is superstition. E no dey work.
“Pastors stop witchcraft branding and stigmatization. It is a Crime.”
