Photo / Getty ImagesThe daughter of a Zimbabwean witchdoctor has been declined refugee status in New Zealand despite her fears that she'll be forced to take his place in the tribe if she returns home. The witchdoctor's childThe woman's mother fell pregnant at 17 to the witchdoctor of another tribe - members of the VaRemba culture - who lived about 250km away. She saw young girls with serious post-circumcision infections and other young girls being forced into marriage at a young age, the tribunal decision said. In February 2016, the mother heard the witchdoctor had died, and decided she and her daughter should attend the funeral. The decisionThe tribunal found there was "simply no scientific principle underlying any claim of the efficacy or power of sorcery".

Source: New Zealand Herald November 30, 2020 02:26 UTC