37-year-old Pastor Masimba Chirayi, who was arraigned in a Zimbabwean magistrates’ court to answer to culpable homicide charges, claimed that he mistook one of his members he killed during baptism for a vampire.
According to Masimba Chirayi who is a reverend at New Johanne Masowe, Zimbabwe, he did not kill Wendy Thinnamay Masuka over the weekend on purpose, as she stated that she appeared like a dangerous creature to him.
The Pastor who was released on bail with the trial date fixed for May, 2018, said;
“In my eyes she was like a vampire possessed by demons, she was violent and I thought she was going to kill people so I kept her submerged in water until I overpowered her”
It is expected that several congregants will testify against during his next trial.
This is coming few months after a Pastor was accused of accidentally drowning a six-week-old boy, as he baptised him in Moldova. Witnesses claimed the baby died after Father Valentin, failed to cover his mouth and nose when he immersed him in water three times.
Film shot by relatives shows the youngster moving after being taken out of the font, but then suffering difficulty breathing as he is dressed. Twenty minutes later, he started bleeding from his nose and mouth and died.
The baby reportedly died on the way to hospital, and a post mortem found he had drowned. The baby’s father Dumitru Gaidau told Romania’s Publica TV.
He added: ‘We all saw it, the priest didn’t put his hand over the baby’s mouth to stop water going in as he should have done and as they do at every other baptism.
