Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Nigerian juju (trafficking) Juju and oath systems Makindye, Kampala, Uganda · 2024

Uganda: the first clear conviction secured under the 2021 human-sacrifice statute

Record class

Context only

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

a witchdoctor found in possession of human remains bought from other practitioners

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

No individual victim is identified and none is asserted. The record's significance is legal: it is the clearest located instance of Uganda's dedicated human-sacrifice statute actually producing a conviction.

  • Prosperity, divination, or curse-removal claim
  • Violent occult ideology or sacrifice

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2024-06-10 · guilty plea and sentence under the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act 2021

    High Court of Uganda at Kampala (Lady Justice Margaret Mutonyi). John Magombe, a witchdoctor raided in February 2023, pleaded guilty to possession of human body parts — three skulls purchased from other practitioners — and was sentenced to seven years, reduced to roughly five years and eight months after credit for time on remand. He was charged and convicted under Uganda's Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act 2021 itself.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • a trade in human body parts sustaining the ritual economy

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report Daily Monitor: 'Witch doctor found with human skulls jailed 7 years'.

National paper of record's court report.

Related record

Related cases · Nigerian juju (trafficking)

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