Ugandan herbalist goes in 5years for theft
By Staff Reporter
A 27-YEAR-OLD Ugandan herbalist has been sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour for swindling a Zambian woman who wanted ‘her boyfriend back’, out of K46,000.
Kafeero Omar was charged with one count of theft with particulars being that on September 11, last year, he stole K46,000 from Analisha Jere on the pretext that he was blessing the money using spirits from his ‘fathers’.
Magistrate Nsunge Chanda convicted and jailed Omar, saying the prosecution has proved that he stole the mony from Jere.
According to evidence in the case, Jere, the complainant, had testified that she saw an advert on Facebook where Omar was advertising his services as a herbalis and that he was healing diseases and bringing back boyfriends and lost husbands.
She got the number from the Facebook post and phoned Omar who gave her directions to his house in Chilenje, adding that when she went yo meet him, she was asked yo pay K500 as consultation fee.
Jere presented her case to Omar that she had differences with the boyfriend who had committed to marry her.
The court heard that Omar prepared some medicine and took her into a certain room where he covered the windows with a blanket and called the spiritual fathers.
She said after the spiritual fathers ‘came’ Omar explained the problem to them and after finishing all the procedure, she went home and in the evenings, her boyfriend visited her.
Jere said she was exciter that the medicine had worked.
The court also heard that when she informed her ‘papa’ that the medication has worked because the boyfriend was back, her told her to go back to Chilenje the following day.
Jere added that Omar asked her to pay another K500 in order to keep her man.
Later, the ‘papa’ told her that she was a blessed lady and all the money that she had was supposed to be brought to him to be prayed for.
Jere told Omar she had no money but he insisted she had somewhere and that’s how she got the K46,000 she was keeping in her bedroom and took to him.
She said when she got to Omar’s house, the money was put in a trunk and called on the spirits and was told to sing.
Omar told her to leave the money in the truck so that its blessed
She said when she went to get it, she was told the spiritual fathers had instructed that the money was not yet blessed.
Jere said on the third day when she went to get her money, she found that Omar had shifted with her K46,000 and the phone was switched off and that was when she reported the matter to Northmead police station where investigations led to his arrest.
However, Omar said he was a foreigner but married to a Zambian woman who was pregnant at the time of his arrest.
He agreed that Jere was his client and that he worked hard with his medication to help her bring the boyfriend back.
Omar said he was a true prophet and could perform miracles, and could show the court those miracles only that the medicine was left at home.
He denied stealing the K46,000 but explained that he was calling upon the forefathers to help him admit her medication.
Omar explained that he shifted from the house in Chilenje because he found a cheaper one of K2,000.
But magistrate Chanda found him guilty and coonvicted him.
She said it is true from the evidence before court that Jere indeed gave Omar the money and Omar used some tricks to steal from her.
She sentenced him to five years imprisonment with hard labour to deter would be offenders.
Magistrate Chanda said it was unfortunate that Omar traveled miles from his country to come and commit a crime in Zambia, saying If he was an herbalist, then he should perform according to whatever certificate he has so that people pay him for the services and not to swindle him.
