Man subjected to exorcisms over ‘witchcraft’ claims fears victims being missed during pandemic
A man who was subjected to two years of exorcisms after being accused of witchcraft believes victims are going undetected in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mardoche Yembi told Sky News his relatives believed he was possessed by an “evil spirit” as a child and blamed him for his mother’s death after moving to London from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He fears youngsters have been at greater risk of the abuse during the UK’s lockdowns after campaigners said children with COVID have been branded witches in some communities.
Mardoche Yembi says he was left ‘scared’ and ‘depressed’ after being accused of witchcraft. Pic Mardoche Yembi
Police have warned cases of child abuse linked to faith or belief are “highly under-reported” – and there are fears school closures during the pandemic have worsened the problem.
Just six cases were recorded by the Metropolitan Police in the first half of 2021, compared to 37 cases throughout the whole of 2018.
Detective Sergeant Kate Bridger told Sky News that abuse by believers in witchcraft and spirit possession “can take all different forms” including physical, sexual and emotional.
“People who are ‘possessed’ could be cut, beaten, or have chilli powder put on any orifice to burn the spirit coming out,” she said.
“Ultimately, a person could be murdered because that person is the vessel for that evil spirit that creates such a risk for the believer.”
• Children killed in UK over witchcraft and possession claims
Fifteen-year-old Kristy Bamu was tortured and murdered by his older sister Magalie and her partner after they accused the teenager of using witchcraft in east London in 2010.
Kristy Bamu was tortured and drowned on Christmas Day because a relative believed he was a witch
Eight-year-old Victoria Climbie was tortured to death in north London in 2000 by her great aunt and her partner after a Christian preacher convinced them she was possessed.
Victoria Climbie was tortured to death in 2000 after her carers believed she was possessed
On Monday, a hospital anaesthetist is due to be sentenced after injecting his partner with drugs during a series of exorcism ceremonies, leaving her close to death with multiple organ failure.
Hossam Metwally made dozens of video recordings of himself administering fluids through a cannula to Kelly Wilson while chanting as part of a “dangerous perversion” of the Islamic Ruqya ritual, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
The 60-year-old, who is originally from Egypt, told the jury he performed rituals on Ms Wilson to exorcise evil spirits, called Jinns, but claimed he only used holy oil and did not inject anaesthetics.
Hossam Metwally is facing jail after injecting his partner with drugs during a series of exorcism ceremonies
However a jury found the father-of-four guilty of endangering Ms Wilson’s life through the unlawful and deliberate intravenous administration of anaesthetics or sedative agents and drug possession offences.
• ‘The pastor came into the house… trying to get the demon off me’
Mr Yembi said he was first branded a witch by relatives at the age of 11 and he faced a two-year ordeal that left him “scared” and “depressed”.
“They took me to church to try to get the ‘demon spirit’ away from me – that’s what they called it,” he told Sky News.
“I started running away from home a lot because there was a lot of shouting and a lot of blaming on me.
“The pastor came into the house a lot, preaching and trying to get the demon off me.”
Mr Yembi said he was threatened with a knife in one incident and, on another occasion, his treasured football trophy was burnt.
Mardoche Yembi, pictured as a teenager, was first branded a witch by relatives at the age of 11. Pic: Mardoche Yembi
“I don’t want any child to go through it,” he said. “It’s just bad. I was depressed. I was in a bad place.
“I just felt lonely.
“I started getting scared.
“I couldn’t do anything in the house. I had to go in my room and lock myself in there.”
• Fears children accused of witchcraft being missed
Before he moved to the UK, Mr Yembi said he had seen children accused of witchcraft in Congo go through horrific rituals in which they were beaten and had chilli pepper rubbed in their eyes.
After his school learnt of a plan to take him back to the African country, Mr Yembi said social services became involved and he was admitted to a mental health hospital after his ordeal left him feeling suicidal, before he was placed in foster care.
The 29-year-old said he was never physically harmed and he has forgiven the relatives involved – who were not prosecuted – but he no longer speaks to them.
“I believe they still believe in it,” he added.
Mr Yembi, who is now a painter and decorator in London, as well as a motivational speaker, said he believes children are still being accused of witchcraft in the UK today.
“With the lockdowns, any kid who is going through it, it doesn’t help to be honest,” he added.
Mardoche Yembi says he doesn’t want other children to go through his ordeal. Pic: Mardoche Yembi
• Children with COVID symptoms accused of being ‘possessed’
International human rights activist Mandy Sanghera said she is aware of cases where people have sought rituals to cure “evil spirits” in children during the pandemic, after they have been blamed for adults losing jobs or being put on furlough.
She said some of those who carry out rituals claim that COVID is not real and tell the parents of children with symptoms of the virus that they are “possessed”.
“People’s religion overrides their common sense sometimes,” she told Sky News.
“We need professionals to be very clear about protection and not political correctness.
“Sometimes people – frontline social workers, police officers – won’t address certain things because they’ll say ‘it’s cultural’ or ‘we don’t want to get involved’. But sometimes it’s too late.”
Ms Sanghera said some people have been charged “hundreds of pounds and even thousands” for exorcisms and rituals to be carried out.
Some parents of children with epilepsy have been told “that was the evil spirit coming out”, she added.
“It’s really shocking some of the things people will believe, in the name of religion and culture,” she said.
• Which cultures and religions believe in witchcraft and spirit possession?
According to the Met Police, child abuse linked to faith or belief is not confined to one faith, nationality or ethnic community.
Examples have been recorded across several religions including Christians, Muslims and Hindus, the force said.
In England, around 1,950 suspected victims of child abuse based on faith or belief were identified by councils in 2018/19 – a 34% increase on the previous year, according to the Local Government Association.
Met Police inspector Allen Davis, who works to tackle abuse linked to faith and belief, told Sky News that the risk had increased during the pandemic.
“We can’t afford for this to be a taboo subject,” he said. “This is about protecting the vulnerable.
“It’s out there. We’re doing something about it.
“If we don’t respond and we don’t intervene early, what can be the worst scenario? That’s when we end up with the tragic child murders that we’re trying to prevent.”
Leethen Bartholomew, head of the National FGM Centre, said the pandemic had resulted in children having less contact with professionals – such as teachers and youth workers – who “spot the signs” of abuse linked to claims of witchcraft and spirit possession.
The organisation has previously warned that if vulnerable children or adults contract COVID, they could be labelled as being witches or possessed by families with those beliefs.
“The pandemic has put extra pressures on families, particularly those living in difficult circumstances, which can fuel harmful acts of abuse or neglect on children,” Mr Bartholomew said.
“So it is important that we support children and young people, create safe spaces to talk about their fears and anxieties and respond appropriately.”
UK
Rishi Sunak apologises to infected blood scandal victims and says it is ‘day of shame for British state’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has offered a “wholehearted and unequivocal” apology to the victims of the infected blood scandal, saying it was a “day of shame for the British state”.
Mr Sunak said the findings of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s final report should “shake our nation to its core”, as he promised to pay “comprehensive compensation to those infected and those affected”, adding: “Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.”
The report from the inquiry’s chair Sir Brian Langstaff blamed “successive governments, the NHS, and blood services” for failures that led to 30,000 people being “knowingly” infected with either HIV or Hepatitis C through blood products. Around 3,000 people have now died.
The prime minister said for any government apology to be “meaningful”, it had to be “accompanied by action”.
Politics live: Thatcher’s health secretary ‘disparaging’ to infected blood victims
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Sunak called it a “calamity”, saying the report showed a “decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life”, as he condemned the actions of the NHS, civil service and ministers – “institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way”.
The prime minister said they “failed this country”, adding: “Time and again, people in positions of power and trust had the chance to stop the transmission of those infections. Time and again, they failed to do so.
“I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.”
Victims and campaigners outside Central Hall in Westminster.
Pic: PA
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Pointing to key findings in the report – from the destruction of documents through to failures over screening – Mr Sunak said there had been “layer upon layer of hurt endured across decades”.
He also apologised for the “institutional refusal to face up to these failings and worse, to deny and even attempt to cover them up”, adding: “This is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by this scandal.
“It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. And on behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also apologised for his party’s part in the scandal, telling the Commons: “I want to acknowledge to every single person who has suffered that in addition to all of the other failings, politics itself failed you.
“That failure applies to all parties, including my own. There is only one word, sorry.”
Read more:
100 faces of the infected blood scandal
Analysis: Report makes for difficult reading – but vindicates victims
The day as it happens as ‘chilling’ cover-up laid bare
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Infected blood victims ‘betrayed’ by NHS
In his report, released earlier on Monday, Sir Brian issued 12 recommendations – including an immediate compensation scheme and ensuring anyone who received a blood transfusion before 1996 was urgently tested for Hepatitis C.
He also called for compensation – something Mr Sunak said would come and would be outlined in the Commons on Tuesday.
But speaking to Sky News’ Sarah-Jane Mee, he warned the “disaster” of the scandal still wasn’t over, saying: “More than 3,000 have died, and deaths keep on happening week after week.
“I’d like people to take away the fact that this is not just something which happened. It is happening.”
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Inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff spoke to Sky’s Sarah-Jane Mee.
Sir Brian said what had happened to the victims was “no accident”, adding: “People put their trust in the doctors and the government to keep them safe. That trust was betrayed.
“And then the government compounded the agony by repeatedly saying that no wrong had been done.”
But he hoped the report would ensure “these mistakes are not repeated”.
He told Sky News: “We don’t want another 30,000 people to go into hospital and come out with infections which were avoidable, which are life-shattering, which were no accident.
“And we don’t want the government to end up being defensive about them – but instead to be candid [and] forthcoming in the ways which I’ve just suggested.”
An inquiry into the infected blood scandal has pointed the finger at several people and organisations after more than 30,000 patients were “knowingly” infected with HIV or Hepatitis C.
Inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff said the “disaster was not an accident” and there was a “catalogue of failures” and a “pervasive” cover-up by the NHS and successive governments.
More than 30,000 Britons were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
About 3,000 people died as a result, while many more still live under the shadow of health problems, debilitating treatments and stigma.
Follow live: Updates on infected blood report
Speaking after the report was published on Monday following the seven-year inquiry, Sir Brian said: “The damage caused was compounded by the reaction of successive governments, the NHS and the medical profession.
“Successive governments refused to admit responsibility to save face and expense.
“Today’s report also found that the response to the infections made things worse, including repeated failures by governments and the NHS to acknowledge the victims should not have been infected in the first place.”
In the report, he named specific people and institutions in his criticism.
They included:
Lord Clarke
Kenneth Clarke, now a lord, was heavily criticised by Sir Brian.
He was a health minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government from 1982 to 1985, then health secretary from 1988 to 1990.
Ken Clarke was later John Major’s chancellor. Pic: PA
Lord Clarke was accused of being “somewhat blasé” when he gave evidence to the inquiry about the collection of blood from prisoners as late as 1983.
His manner was described as “argumentative”, “unfairly dismissive” and “disparaging” towards those who have suffered, with Sir Brian saying he played “some part” in that suffering.
The report said it was “regrettable that he could not moderate his natural combative style in expressing views”.
Sky News has approached Lord Clarke for comment.
Read more: 100 faces of infected blood scandal
Inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff with victims and campaigners. Pic: PA
The Thatcher government
Margaret Thatcher, as well as subsequent governments and health secretaries, continually said infections were “inadvertent” and patients were given “the best treatment available on the then current medical advice”.
The inquiry report concluded that was not true and said the factual basis for the claim was unclear.
“In short, adopting the line amounted to blindness,” the report said.
“Adopting it without realising it needed to have a proper evidential base, and they did not know what it was, was unacceptable.
“The line, which was wrong from the very outset, then became entrenched for around 20 years: a dogma became a mantra.
“It was enshrined. It was never questioned.”
Margaret Thatcher. Pic: PA
Sir Brian added that the Thatcher government “did not respond appropriately, urgently and proactively” to the risks of Hepatitis C and HIV transmissions through blood.
He said the government knew there was a much higher incidence of Hepatitis in prisoners, yet “no action” was taken to stop blood donations from them, which “increased the risk of transmission”.
The failure lied “principally at the door” of the health departments in Westminster and Scotland, he said.
He said the Thatcher government signed up to recommendations in 1983 from the Council of Europe to inform clinicians and patients about the risks of treatment – yet failed to follow those recommendations.
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Infected blood scandal ‘no accident’
Sir Brian described the failure to provide any guidance to doctors about the risk of transmission of AIDS as “inexcusable”.
On compensation, he also said the Thatcher government “plainly formed the view, at an early stage, that nothing had been done wrong, and that no financial assistance would be provided to people with bleeding disorders who had been infected with HIV”.
He added: “It did so without any proper investigation either into what had caused the infections or into the appalling plight of those infected.”
Treloar School
Haemophiliac children were sent to the Hampshire school with an on-site NHS clinic so they could live as near a normal childhood as possible.
Instead, 75 boys died of AIDs and Hepatitis – and 58 were infected but survived – as they were included in secret trials to test a blood product called Factor 8, which was made with blood farmed from prisoners, sex workers and drug addicts in America.
The report said there “is no doubt” the risks of virus transmission were well known to doctors at Treloar School, yet doctors “played down the risks”.
Treloar students from the 1970s and 1980s at the inquiry. Pic: PA
Some pupils and parents were “never informed” by the school the boys had tested positive for HIV, which Sir Brian said “was unconscionable”.
Treloar School was a “microcosm” of much of “what went wrong in the way haemophilia clinicians treated their patients across the UK,” he added.
The school said in a statement: “We are devastated that some of our former pupils were so tragically affected and hope that the findings provide some solace for them and their families.”
It added that its management was “absolutely committed to exploring” calls for a public memorial to those affected, and added: “We’ll now be taking the time to reflect on the report’s wider recommendations.”
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
The hospital was the main site in Liverpool for children with bleeding disorders from the late 1970s onwards.
Doctors used Factor 8 concentrate containing contaminated blood to treat them, even after other haemophilia centres stopped using them on children, Sir Brian found.
Alder Hey’s director from the mid-1970s, Dr John Martin, “did not regard the risk of Hepatitis as a reason to alter any treatment regime”, the report added.
“He exposed them to wholly unnecessary risks,” it said.
Sky News has approached Alder Hey for comment.
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. Pic: PA
Professor Arthur Bloom
Professor Bloom, who died in 1992, was one of the country’s leading haemophiliac specialists during the period and treated some of those who were affected.
Sir Brian Langstaff said he “must bear some of the responsibility for the UK’s slowness in responding to the risks of AIDs to people with haemophilia”.
Prof Bloom said at the time he was unaware of any proof linking infections to the blood products and said there was no need to change patients’ treatment, Sir Brian said.
He added: “Disastrously the Department of Health and Social Security was over-influenced by his advice, in particular his advice to continue importing commercial factor concentrates.”
Professor Arthur Bloom
The NHS
Sir Brian said the response of the NHS and the government showed there was not a major plot to cover up failures “in an orchestrated conspiracy to mislead”.
“But in a way that was more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications,” he said.
“To save face and to save expense, there has been a hiding of much of the truth.”
He also found patients were knowingly exposed to unacceptable risks of infection, with transfusions frequently given when not clinically needed.
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‘Day of shame for the British state’
The report also said there was no contact tracing exercise carried out when Hepatitis C screenings were introduced.
Sir Brian also said the NHS and governments repeatedly failed to acknowledge people should not have been infected, despite the scandal being known about.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday offered a “wholehearted and unequivocal” apology to victims and said it was a “day of shame for the British state”.
He said the findings of the inquiry should “shake our nation to its core” and promised to pay “comprehensive compensation to those infected and those affected.”
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Labour: ‘There was systemic failure’
The NHS said in a statement on its website: “Since September 1991, all blood donated in the UK is screened using very rigorous safety standards and testing to protect both donors and patients.
“Since screening was introduced, the risk of getting an infection from a blood transfusion or blood products is very low.”
UK
Infected blood report will give survivors some satisfaction – but prosecutions must wait for another day
Of all the survivors of this scandal I have spoken to, the key demand they have from this inquiry is accountability.
They want the organisations and individuals who contributed to this scandal to be clearly identified, held to account and – where evidence is sufficient – prosecuted.
The inquiry report clearly identifies where the fault lies.
Live updates:
Infected blood scandal report latest
Organisations like the Department of Health and the NHS are singled out for their failure to prevent the infection of tens of thousands of individuals in the first place.
It goes on to implicate them in the denial, delay and a clear attempt at “hiding the truth”.
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Infected blood victims ‘betrayed’ by NHS, says inquiry chair
Then there are the committees, such as the Committee on Safety of Medicines.
The inquiry finds it should never have approved potentially infected blood products for use in the NHS given what was known at the time, let alone what came to light as people began to die as a result of receiving them.
Individuals are clearly identified too, many of them now deceased; the directors of the UK’s blood transfusion centres who failed to act on warnings about the safety of our domestic blood supply.
Hundreds of individual doctors also failed to recognise the risk to their patients, were slow to test them for illnesses then inform them of the results, and in some cases used them in clinical trials for medicines known to be risky that led to some dying unnecessarily.
Read more:
The stories behind 100 victims
‘I gave my young son to his killers’
Infections are ‘worst thing you can imagine’
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Clarke singled out
Senior civil servants and ministers are singled out also.
Kenneth, now Baron, Clarke – who was health minister between 1982 and 1985 – comes in for specific criticism.
Inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff said it was “indefensible” that the government’s position in 1983 was that there was “no conclusive proof” of the risk of HIV to the UK blood supply and blood products.
There will be some satisfaction for survivors that so many organisations and individuals are criticised. But when it comes to legal culpability, and the prospect of prosecutions, they must wait for another day.
Read more on Sky News:
Nursery worker guilty of manslaughter over death of baby
Investigation after man in his 30s dies in police custody
Some of £5bn spend on post-Brexit border checks ‘unnecessary’
Inquiries can’t find criminal responsibility
Under the Inquiries Act, public inquiries are prohibited from finding criminal or civil liability.
If any prosecutions are to come from this report, it will be through the courts.
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