Attack on person with albinism shocks Mkuranga residents.

The community of people with albinism in Coast Region has expressed dismay and anger over an attack on Mohammed Said (35), a person with albinism, on October 21, 2015.  

 

This is the first such attack in the district since 2006 when the previous murder of a person with albinism was recorded by the police. 

 

Saidi, Mkuranga district Tanzania Albino Society (TAS) secretary, sustained serious head injuries after unidentified men attacked him with a machete. 

 

Narrating the incident at Mkuranga district hospital where he was admitted nursing wounds, Saidi recalled someone knocking at his door and asking him, "Mohammed, are you asleep?” to which I replied, “Not yet.”, adding that suddeny the man kicked the  door open. 

 

He said he did not recognize the man as his face was covered with a black cloth, adding that the intruder restrained him by pinning him down by the shoulders while the second assailant tied him with a piece of cloth around his neck and mouth to stop him from screaming. Saidi said he tried to put up a fight but the goons used the back of the machetes to hit his arms and legs in order to weaken him. "They tried to hold my legs wide apart, which I resisted with all my strength.  They were talking of mutilating my genitals," he narrated.   

 

Then he heard the voice of nother man from the outside who the two criminals referred to as ‘Boss’.  “If you can’t get the genitals cut any flesh from any part of the body!” the man reportedly said.

 

 While Saidi was still trying to fight off the intruders, the “Boss” entered the room and used a machete to chop off some flesh from Said’s head and ear.  The attackers then ran off into the darkness, leaving him bleeding profusely.  

 

Saidi managed to remove the piece of cloth stuffed into his mouth and raised alarm.  Neighbours, including his landlord, Athuman Suleiman (44), rushed to his rescue.   

 

His landlord, Athman, said it was the night of October 21, 2015 at midnight when he heard screams from his tenant calling for help. “I am dying, help me!” he was crying out.

 

When Athuman and other neighbours came they found Saidi at his doorstep  with his body covered in blood.  Nyumba said together they informed Mkuranga District Police Station, who drove to Saidi’s place and took him to hospital for treatment. 

 

Talking to Under The Same Sun (UTSS) official at her office, Mkuranga District Medical Officer (DMO), Dr. Paulina Mbezi, said Saidi was received at the hospital with serious head wounds last Wednesday night.  

 

“When he was brought here his condition was critical and he had lost a lot of blood following the attack,” she said. 

Dr. Mbezi said, Saidi was given blood transfusion and was treated immediately, adding that she was satisfied with his condition.

 

“He is stable and improving,” she said.

 

Mkuranga police station chied Mayenga  Mapalala confirmed the incident, adding that the police has begun preliminary investigations into the incident.  

 

“However, we are in shock as this is the first time we in Mkuranga are experiencing such atrocities, which are rampant in the Lake Zone,” he said.

 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN