Belief in Witchcraft as a Partial Defence to Homicide in Anglophone Africa

Witchcraft-related murders are not uncommon in many contemporary African communities. A recent study shows that people charged with homicidal acts supposedly committed under the influence of witchcraft and juju beliefs in African communities at times raise the plea/defence of self-defence or self-defence in conjunction with mistaken belief.

Hence, since the 1930s the courts in Anglophone Africa have on several occasions been invited to address the question of whether killing suspected witches to repel supposed supernatural attacks avails to accused persons the plea of self-defence or self-defence based on mistaken belief and, if so, under what circumstances.

Drawing largely on case law, statutes, and a range of relevant academic literature, the study explores the historical development of the self-defence based on mistaken belief plea in witchcraft-related homicide cases in English-speaking Africa. It also examines the African courts’ attitude towards the said defence.

The study adopts a descriptive approach and is exhaustive in its historical reconstruction of the case-law entailing the application of the self-defence and mistaken belief defences in witchcraft-related murder cases in Anglophone Africa. Besides, the article offers useful comparisons in terms of how the various regions in Anglophone Africa have dealt with the conundrum at various times/epochs.

The study establishes that the courts in the eastern and southern parts of Anglophone Africa are generally willing to reduce the sentence if there is sufficient evidence that the defendants genuinely or honestly believed that the victims were bewitching or threatening to commit an act of witchcraft against them or their close family members.

However, in West African countries, particularly Ghana and Nigeria, the fact that killers of alleged witches honestly believed that the deceased persons were bewitching or attempting to harm or kill them and/or close relatives by witchcraft, is not a legal defence. It is also immaterial to the determination of the appropriate sentence.

This interesting paper is published open access in Criminal Law Forum by Springer Nature https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-024-09479-x.