Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Indigenous spiritual authority or imitation High Court at Oshakati, Namibia · 2022

S v John: murder and witchcraft-accusation convictions in Namibia

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

relative making a witchcraft accusation, household member using threats against witnesses

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

John admitted that he accused his aunt of bewitching his mother and deceased siblings, killed her and threatened relatives who might intervene. The court separately convicted him under Namibia's Witchcraft Suppression Proclamation for naming her as a witch and treated the unconfirmed witchcraft suspicion as an aggravating part of the murder circumstances.

  • Curse or witchcraft threat
  • Threatened spiritual consequence

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2022-02-22 · guilty pleas, convictions and sentencing

    High Court of Namibia, Northern Local Division, S v John, CC 14/2019. The court convicted Muyevu Thikundeko John of murder under the domestic-violence statute, naming another person as a witch under the Witchcraft Suppression Proclamation, and assault by threat. It imposed thirty years for murder with five years suspended, two years for the witchcraft-accusation offense, and a concurrent twelve months for assault by threat.

Appellate history

  1. Date in cited record · undefined

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Documented coercion mechanisms

  • witchcraft accusation
  • blame for family deaths
  • threats against intervening witnesses
  • claimed non-natural causation

Primary record

Sources

high court judgment conviction and sentencing judgment High Court of Namibia, Northern Local Division, S v John (CC 14/2019) [2022] NAHCNLD 12 (Feb. 22, 2022).

The official judgment records the guilty pleas, witchcraft accusation, murder, threats to witnesses, domestic relationship, statutory counts and exact sentences. It also identifies the limits of the evidence and the court's sentencing rationale.

Related record

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