
A 21-year-old man of Mansa district in Luapula Province was nearly lynched yesterday after an angry mob descended on him over accusations of being a ritual killer.
The incident happened near UB down market, when alert marketeers allegedly learnt that the victim, Fucha Machisa, was trying to snatch an innocent toddler.
Police rescued the suspect from an irate mob and took him to Mansa General Hospital where he was treated for a deep cut on his head.
However, Police had difficulties in preventing the mob at the Hospital which attempted to force itself into the institute’s premises demanding to finish off the suspected ritual killer.
The mob later demanded that the police release the suspect so that they could set him ablaze.
The mob later smashed windows to a medical doctor’s vehicle registration ALB 4216 as one of the people in the crowd shouted that the suspect was being whisked away in the same vehicle as it drove out of the hospital.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Machisa told ZANIS that he was attacked near a graveyard on his way home.
The recent attack comes barely hours after the police picked up bodies of two middle aged men who were viciously beaten and burnt to death in Senama area over similar ritual killing accusations.
And a 25- year -old woman of Musumali Village in Mansa is nursing a deep wound in Mansa General Hospital after she was stabbed in the neck by a robber who broke into her house.
In an interview with ZANIS from her hospital bed, Cynthia Mulele said a robber had broken into her house on Saturday night.
Narrating the ordeal, Mulele said while she sleeping with her three- year- old daughter she woke up at night only to realise that curtains had been removed from her windows by unknown people.
Ms Mulele said when she woke up to check on what was happening, the robber who was hiding behind the door held her at knife-point and led her outside.
She said while outside, the robber started dragging her towards an orchard of oranges adding that at this point, she realised that the robber intended to harm her but Ms Mulele wrestled with her attacker while shouting for help.
Ms Mulele said when the robber realised that people in the neighbourhood were going to be alarmed, he decided to stab her in the neck and bolted. The robber also made away with her curtains.
The victim who was struggling to speak due to pain said she was just being fed on fluids because of the wound’s depth.
ZANIS