Mozambique: Sant’Egidio reports brutal murder of 15-year-old Juvêncio, his 12-year-old friend Ilton still missing

A 15-year-old boy has been killed and another, aged 12, has been missing since Saturday in the Mozambican city of Matola, in the south of the country, the Sant’Egidio Community reported this Friday (13 November), linking the cases to superstitious beliefs and calling for a swift investigation.

According to Father Rolando Curzi, a priest with the Sant’Egidio Community and rector of St John Paul II Church in Maputo, the two boys, who attended the Sant’Egidio Community’s Nutrition Centre and School of Peace in Matola for several years, reportedly disappeared on Saturday, 7 November, after being seen together that morning.

Monday (9 November), bearing “evident signs” of extreme violence. He explained that the nature of the mutilations raises suspicions that the crime may be linked to practices or rituals of a magical-superstitious nature.

Rolando Curzi told Lusa that the other boy, aged 12, Ilton, remains missing, with the search continuing in Matola. The Sant’Egidio Community is calling on the authorities to investigate the crime swiftly.

“Two days passed and on Monday morning the body of that 15-year-old boy was found lifeless in the Matola River. Some fishermen found him and immediately realised that there were signs of violence on his body; he was the victim of violence,” the priest told Lusa.

This is the first such case involving children who attend the Community’s centre, but the priest reported that similar cases have occurred involving minors, particularly boys with albinism.

“What we want to do, let us say, is raise awareness in civil society about this issue in order to create a protection network for children. The Sant’Egidio Community has implemented the BRAVO! (Birth Registration For All Versus Oblivion) programme, which is specifically intended for the civil registration of children at birth, because many are not registered and are therefore as if they did not exist; they are invisible. So this is a form of protection,” Father Curzi said.

The Matola Nutrition Centre provides lunch to around 500 disadvantaged minors during the week and, on Saturdays, offers educational support to more than 100 at the School of Peace.