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Human sacrifice
It was a grisly find. In September last year, the torso of a five or six-year-old boy was found floating in the River Thames. Wearing orange shorts, the child - of Afro-Caribbean origin and named Adam by detectives - has never been identified, nor has anyone reported him missing.
Police are investigating the possibility of a ritual murder after seven half-burned candles wrapped in a white sheet were found near the body - an apparent link to human sacrifice.
A first post-mortem concluded that the boy died from a 'violent trauma to the neck' and his head and limbs were removed after death. Witchcraft expert and South African pathologist Dr Hendrik Scholtz, who performed a second post-mortem, concluded that the torso had all the hallmarks of a ritualistic killing.
If proved, it would be the first known case of a ritual or 'muti' murder in the UK. Such killings are associated with African witch doctors who use the body parts for black magic potions. According to Dr Scholtz, a human sacrifice takes place when a small group of people need to obtain supernatural powers to be successful in areas such as business or politics.
The possibility that a child could be killed for his or her body parts, which are then used in spells to increase the powers of others, is shocking. But throughout Africa, women and children are the main victims of an ancient black magic practice, which has very little to do with Africa's popular religion, voodoo, but everything to do with fear, greed and power.
Voodoo, with its numerous deities and tradition of animal sacrifice, is rooted in 6,000 years of African history. Today over 60 million people practise voodoo worldwide and it is particularly prevalent amongst the ancestors of African slaves, for example in Brazil, Haiti, Cuba and America. Even in Europe, where members of these countries have settled, voodoo is discreetly practised.
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