A Mexican woman and her daughter have been fined for witchcraft after they were accused of making an evil potion to drive a family member mad.
Maria Hernandez and her unnamed daughter, who are both members of an indigenous community, were fined by the local court for using witchcraft to make a family member lose his mind.
The court in the indigenous community of Tsotsil de Cuchulumtic in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas fined the pair MXN 200,000 (GBP 7,139) for the crime of practising witchcraft in a verdict yesterday (Wednesday, 20th October).
The two were convicted of using witchcraft to make the mother’s 35-year-old son, named solely as Guadalupe N., sick with help from her daughter.
The women allegedly brewed a magic potion, which they were then accused of giving to the victim to send him into a state of paranoia and madness.
An investigation into the incident was launched by the authorities in the indigenous community after the victim claimed his mother was making him sick using black magic.
An unnamed villager said: “The man said that his mother gathered animals such as worms, chickens and others, in addition to herbs, and ground them up and put them in his turkey broth to harm him.”
The broth allegedly drove the victim into a state of paranoid psychosis.
The same villager commented that the possible motive for the alleged poisoning was a dispute over a family inheritance.
He said: “He’s pressuring her to hand him part of the land and money she has. That’s the case. She, being separated, has land and money.”
In indigenous communities such as Tsotsil de Cuchulumtic, villagers believe such magic potions can cause memory loss. It is possible, therefore, that the mother fed her son the brew to make him forget about his alleged claim over her estate.
The villager said of the verdict: “Everyone agreed that they should pay the fine because the man is crazy, out of his mind.”
These types of indigenous communities in Mexico have a certain amount of legal autonomy and make decisions based on customs, which the Mexican authorities tend to respect.
The community pointed out that the two women were not beaten or imprisoned and only fined, unlike others in the past who have been accused of witchcraft.
The previously cited villager was quoted by the news site El Mundo as saying: “Everyone agreed that they should pay the fine by no later than 2nd November.”
The current health status of the victim is unknown.