Mozambique boy mutilated for body parts

Posted Fri Oct 15, 2010 4:45pm AEDT

A court in Mozambique has sentenced two men to 20 years in prison for mutilating a 12-year-old boy in order to sell his body parts to a witchdoctor in Malawi.

The court heard that the boy's uncle and another man lured the boy to come bush-rat hunting with them by offering him biscuits.

In the attack, one of the men covered the youth's mouth while the other hit him on the chest with a rock. They then cut off the boy's testicles, penis and eyes and left him for dead.

One of the men then took the body parts to a middleman in Malawi, where they hoped to sell them for about $US560.

The boy was discovered alive the next day and taken to hospital in Malawi.

"The crime they committed was horrible. The court condemns them to 20 years imprisonment," judge Jorge Langa said.

Many people from Mozambique believe in witches, who use human parts in remedies to cure diseases.

From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/15/3039829.htm?section=justin