Magistrate’s court orders severance of witchcraft charges |02 February 2024

In a significant turn of events, the Magistrates Court ruled in favour of the defence yesterday, ordering the prosecution to sever the charges against the eight men accused of witchcraft.

The motion for severance was filed by Basil Hoareau, legal counsel for United Seychelles (US) party president, Dr Patrick Herminie, during the December 22, 2023, proceedings. Hoareau argued that Dr Herminie’s charges differ to those of the co-accused.

Despite expectations that the prosecution would file the charges during the January 19, 2024 session, procedural setbacks led to senior magistrate Andy Asba expressing his frustration over the prosecution’s handling of the case.

Following the court appearance, Dr Herminie expressed his concerns about the direction of the case, and the prolonged process.

"The question we find ourselves asking is, how long will we find ourselves going back and forth until we come to a final solution?" questioned Dr Herminie.

"If they do not have any case against us, then they simply need to state that they have no case against us, rather than go through all this,” he stated.

It was expected that the prosecution would lay the charges yesterday upon the anticipated ruling, but they failed to do so.

"The prosecution repeatedly has not been able to do the work that it is asked to do, but I think that now that there was the ruling, there will not be any excuses next time. Either they dismiss the case or they charge us,” Dr Herminie added.

The parties are due back in court on February 15.

Asides from six Seychellois co-accused, a Tanzanian national is the first suspect in the case. He is the only accused in remand custody.

If charges are filed for each suspect, Dr Herminie’s attorney will be pushing for a speedy trial and the conclusion of the matter.

"We believe that basically, there is no evidence against me, nor against any of the others,” he emphasised. 

He dismissed certain allegations that he paid the Tanzanian national US $4,000.

"It can be seen that there is a political maneuver by the government to try to tarnish my reputation and implicate me in something that is basically a joke,” Dr Herminie concluded.

As per usual, he was met by a crowd of supporters for the court appearance.

Laura Pillay