Witch doctor claims ‘wrong’

Press, 7 April 1988, Page 2

Witch doctor claims ‘wrong’

Claims by a young Christchurch woman that she was held captive and beaten by witch doctors for four days! are incorrect, says a spokesman on Maori health. Mr! Hohua Tutengaehe, an official visitor of Maori psychiatric patients, told "The I Press” that recent claims by a Maori woman, aged (25, of being held at the Nga Hau E Wha national marae were wrong. She had said that she was held in a shed on the marap and ! repeatedly beaten by two men professing to be tohunga.

She claimed her mistreatment stemmed from comments she had made openly attacking that marae’s management.

She also said that carvings given to her .by a Maoi;i craftsman from Auckland were broken because the two men considered, them evil. Mr Tutengaehe said the woman was not held captive lon the marae but instead cared for in a garage on a property adjacent to the marae. She was and unconscious for most of the time spent there. He said the carvings were not broken but blessed by the two men and | removed from her possession. He said the two accused of mistreating the woman were respectable Maori meh — one a devout Catholic.

The police have received no complaint about the incident.