Man in plot to sell albino imprisoned

A Kenyan man who tried to sell an albino to witchdoctors has been jailed for 16 years by a Tanzanian court.

In proceedings lasting less than an hour, Mwanza Resident Magistrate Angelus Rumisha convicted Nathan Mutei of one count of trafficking in a human being and a second one of abduction with intention to murder.

Mutei, 28, tricked Mr Robinson Mkwama to accompany him to Mwanza, telling him that he was going to get him a job.

All the while, he intended to sell him to Tanzanian witchdoctors who were to cut him up and use his body parts for juju.

Mutei pleaded guilty to the charges, though he said he did not intend to kill Mr Mkwama, he only wanted money.

He was fined Sh4 million (or TSh80 million) or nine years in jail and eight years for the second offence without the option of a fine in a court appearance, between the reading of the charges and the pronouncement of the sentence, from 2.35pm to 3.40 pm.

Tearful and avoiding the cameras, the culprit quietly followed the 20-minute proceedings. He was not represented by a lawyer.

In his ruling, Mr Rumisha told Mutei that he had embarrassed Tanzania and its people, by portraying it as a market for albinos.

He dismissed Mutei’s defence that he did not intend to kill Mr Mkwama, noting that the killing of albinos in Tanzania was real and not imaginary.

Earlier, asked to defend himself, Mutei claimed that he had not been acting out of his own free will and that he had been bewitched by a witchdoctor he met in June when he travelled to Tanzania looking for someone interested in buying albino body parts.

He asked to be allowed to serve his sentence back home. The magistrate made no ruling about the request.

In mitigation, Mutei said he had a wife and five children who depended on him. The magistrate rule that it was not reason enough not to convict him. He also said that Mutei was desperate for money and that was why he trafficked Mr Mkwama.

Government prosecutor David Kakwaya said Mutei first went to Tanzania in June looking for a customer for albino body parts.

He met a witchdoctor, described in court as a “traditional healer”, with whom he struck a deal and exchanged contacts. The witchdoctor later went to the police. The witchdoctor was not named in court, neither did he appear to testify.

Mutei did not return until August 12, when he crossed the border illegally at Isebania, according to the prosecution, with Mr Mkwama in tow.

He called the witchdoctor who alerted police, leading to Mutei’s arrest on Sunday, August 15. Mutei had asked for Sh20 million (or TSh400 million) for Mr Mkwama.

On Monday, the Mwanza Regional Police Commander Simon Siro told reporters that the men came Kitale and were friends.

Mutei cheated Mr Mkwama, 20, that he would get him a well-paying job as a bus conductor in Mwanza. “He was looking for customers from the mining sector believing that they have the money,” Mr Siro said.