Ukraine: a woman told a householder that a curse lay on the money in his house and that she could lift it by praying over it, then took what he brought her

Proceedings

1. 2018-06-14 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Chernihiv District Court, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine (Чернігівський районний суд Чернігівської області). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ОСОБА_3, was convicted of fraud under part 1 of article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and fined fifty tax-free minimum incomes, being 850 hryvnia — a penalty agreed with the victim under a reconciliation agreement of 27 April 2018 which the court approved. The court found that on 25 March 2018 she told the victim, at his property, that she could 'remove a curse' by divination and offered him her services; that with his permission she entered the house; and that, taking advantage of his trusting character and friendly manner, she told him that in order to perform the divination and lift the curse she needed him to bring her all the money in the house, 'since a curse had been laid upon it and she could remove it by performing corresponding manipulations and prayers over the money'. He brought her 1,000 hryvnia and 20 euros, the latter equivalent to 646.60 hryvnia at the National Bank rate that day.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• an unsolicited offer of divination made at the victim's gate
• entry to the house with the victim's permission once the offer was accepted
• the assertion that a curse lay on the money in the house itself
• a requirement that all the money be brought out so that manipulations and prayers could be performed over it