A 33-year-old voodoo worshipper, Andrew Hunye, who claimed he was under a spell when he stabbed his fiance in her head has been jailed.
Hunye almost killed Tessie Adeyemi when he attacked her with a kitchen knife after he had been smoking skunk at the couple’s home in Chadwell Heath, east London.
Wood Green Crown Court heard the victim heard him shouting at himself in the kitchen where she found him lying naked on the floor “speaking in tongues”.
He stood up, pointed at the ceiling, then gestured at her and said “I am God and you are the devil” before grabbing a knife from another room and stabbing her three times in the neck and the back of the head.
Afterwards, he went out onto the communal landing and did a dance of celebration before returning to their flat for a quick shower.
Ms Adeyemi fled the flat and was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The pair, who had booked tickets to Nigeria and Dubai to celebrate their wedding, were both religious and believe the knife attack was caused by a voodoo spell.
Ms Adeyemi, who suffers from facial paralysis since the attack, was supportive of Hunye throughout his trial and told the court they had a ‘good relationship’.
Hunye said in evidence:
“I was not in a right state of mind, I had lost my mind, I was hearing voices.”
Psychiatrists told the court Hunye was not suffering from mental illness.
Judge David Aaronberg told him:
“You and Ms Adeyemi have strong religious beliefs.
“You are both devoted Christians, you also both have traditional Nigerian beliefs regarding Voodoo or Juju.”
But the judge added:
“English law does not recognise the concept of possession by an evil spirit”, he said.
He said that instead, the attack resulted from “a combination of the beliefs and the consumption of skunk cannabis”.
He added:
“If the defendant believed in it it might have impacted how he acted that day.”
Hunye denied any wrongdoing but was convicted of attempted murder and jailed for 12-and-a-half years.
