A Guinean traditional healer has been sentenced to five years in jail for conning women into believing that they were pregnant.
The court charged N’na Fanta Camara for fraud and impersonation. She was arrested early in January for feeding her ‘patients’ herbs and concoctions that made their stomachs bloat.
Camara would warn the more than 700 women against visiting doctors, even when some of their fake pregnancies lasted more than 12 months.
The women with difficulty in conceiving had to part with USD 33 to get Camara’s services. Some of them protested against Camara when she was arrested. According to a police doctor, 47 of the affected women were susceptible to long-term complications as a consequence of the treatment.
At the time of her arrest, Camara said she had not done anything wrong.
“I work very hard to help [the women] realise their dream but the rest is in the hands of God,” she said to reporters in Conakry.
Camara was convicted alongside two accomplices who were sentenced to two and three years.
Rights activists and Camara’s victims expressed their disappointment in the sentencing as they had hoped she’d get a life sentence, reports the BBC.
Guinea is one of the African countries that depend on traditional healers for health care services.
