DUBAI // A woman who claimed to be a witch doctor and told a wife that her spells could help her get pregnant was yesterday sentenced to a year in prison.
M?B, 50, from Algeria, told another woman that her husband was bewitched and had taken a second wife in secret, but that if she paid Dh1,000 she would remove a spell cast on the husband.
In addition to that spell – which required the wife to collect a sample of her husband’s semen – she told a woman she could help her get pregnant by blessing some olive oil and dried figs that she should then eat.
The Misdemeanours Court heard that M?B went to a beauty salon in Al Muraqqabat on November 3, 2010, and tried to sell lucky cards to its workers, offering them at Dh70 a card.
R?Y, a beautician, bought one after haggling her down to Dh50. The woman then put the card on the beautician’s chest and recited some verses from the Quran.
She asked the beautician a couple of questions then informed her: “Your husband is married to another woman, he has two daughters from her, his father is dead and his mother is sick and his other wife has cast a spell on him.”
She then offered to help remove this spell using honey, candles and a napkin containing some of the husband’s semen, for a Dh1,000 fee.
When the beautician told her husband of the spell, he convinced her she had been tricked so they called police.
The woman was arrested the next time she met the beautician.
“I do not do my magic, I use the Quran to help others,” she told police when she was arrested. She added that she hadn’t asked for the husband’s semen, but some drops of his sweat.
She said she had first met the beautician when she approached her to help a Filipina friend who was having difficulty getting pregnant.
“I told her that I could read certain Quran verses on some olive oil and dries figs from which the Filipina should eat and then by God’s will, she would get pregnant,” said M?B.
However, she denied practising magic, saying she had been blessed by God to help others.
The woman, who was convicted on a fraud charge, will be deported after completing her prison term.
salamir@thenational.ae