Police in Zanzibar have arrested and charged a traditional healer identified as Khamis Pandu Pili for allegedly abusing his three stepdaughters aged 11, 12 and 16 years on separate occasions. On unspecified day, neighbours heard a girl screaming and later ran away.
The suspicious incident prompted a neighbour to phone their mother who was away from home when the incident took place. The mother immediately came back home and later called the police who took all the girls to a hospital, where a doctor proved that the two girls had been raped, while one was defiled.
Police officer, Sergeant Haji Mohamed, at the ‘Police Gender Desk’ in South Unguja, informed journalists here that the 29-year-old accused, a husband with two wives, remains in custody pending further investigations.
He said, “We have been told that the traditional healer has been abusing the girls for the past ten months until his arrest.” The Gender Desk in the region has about 16 cases of abuse against children and Women registered between January-June.
It has been alleged that whenever the girls fell sick and asked him for medicine he would ask each to come alone for treatment and that ‘sex’ was important for healing.
The police officer said the accused, when asked to respond before the magistrate, pleaded guilty and the case comes up for another mention on June 16, this year. Rape and defilement are punishable with up to 30 years imprisonment and a fine.
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