ALBINO KIDNAP FEAR
Boy stops school for fear of abduction
A GRADE 9 boy with albinism of Lusaka’s Matero Township has stopped going to school, for fear of being abducted after surviving the ordeal early last year.
Sara Lungu, Gift Musonda’s mother, said that she had decided to stop her 16-year-old son from going to school because she feared that he might be abducted and sold for ritual practices.
“I fear for Gift’s life, the person who attempted to sell him might come back for him using other tricks to lure him before abducting him to be used for ritual practices,” she said.
It is alleged that a close relative and someone that Gift trusted, sometime in March last year attempted to abduct the boy and sell him for alleged ritual practices to a Tanzanian national.
The relative is said to have visited the boy’s parents on the pretext that he was concerned about the welfare of Gift and that he wanted to help him with some school requirements and social wellbeing.
However, Ms. Lungu revealed to the Daily Nation that the family and especially Gift, lived in constant fear, of being abducted and killed for his body parts that could be used for ritual practices.
“What really pains me a lot is the fact that the person who wanted to abduct my son is his own flesh and blood, the one who is supposed protect him from such evil people,” she lamented
She said this state of affairs had brought more difficulties to the family as she feared leaving Gift alone, at home or any other place, a situation which had made their daily lives difficult.
And when asked about the whereabouts of Gift’s father and his stand on the matter, Ms. Lungu said he rejected his son because of his condition and does not support him.
“My husband is the one who has seen Gift up to Grade 8,” she said.
She added that despite contacting him to inform him about what the relative had done, he did not show any concern and had never made a follow up.
Ms Lungu said she was surprised to learn that the suspected kidnapper had been released on police bond despite the family members’ objection.
She wondered why police reportedly allowed the same person to travel out of town while on police bond.
“We had that person arrested and held at Matero police station where police officers informed us that they will hold him until they traced the Tanzanian man he was communicating with on the phone. But to our surprise after some hours we just heard that the person had been released.
She added that she later reported the case at Lusaka Central Police station with the help of Gift’s rescuer only identified as Sylvester.
“When we took the case to Central Police, the suspect was re-apprehended and held pending investigations but after three days, we heard that the suspect had been released on police bond despite my protest on the matter,” she said
But when contacted, police spokesperson, Esther Mwata Katongo said she needed to revisit the case to check how far police officers had gone with investigations.