Kanani and Sylvia, brother and sister aged nine and eight, were grazing the family cattle in rural Uganda when they were approached by a man they vaguely knew.

Sperito Bisekwa was angry. He accused the children of allowing their cows to eat his fodder and dragged them into a nearby forest. He attacked Kanani first. When the boy awoke he had a machete wound on his neck and his sister lay dead beside him.

"He grabbed me, strangled me and cut the back of my neck. When I came to, I realised my sister had been cut everywhere and she was dead," said Kanani.

Sylvia's young body had been gruesomely mutilated, her heart and clitoris cut out with a knife and taken for use in a witchdoctor's ritual, according to police.

[...]

Child protection officer Shelin Kasozi said the charity receives a few cases every month, stressing that the ritual murders "cut across all Ugandan society".

"The rich believe, 'If I sacrifice then my business will prosper'," she said. "The poor believe if they sacrifice a child they'll get rich."

Kasozi pointed to the case of "very, very rich" Kampala businessman Godfrey Kato Kajubi who received a life sentence in 2012 for the ritual murder of a 12-year old boy who was beheaded and his genitals cut off.

[...]

Bisekwa pleaded guilty to the February 2013 attack in Nansaka village, 130 kilometres (80 miles) northwest of the capital Kampala. He is serving a 10-year sentence for the attempted murder of Kanani and awaits sentencing for Sylvia's murder.

He admits sending the body parts to his brother, a witchdoctor, in exchange for the promise of $16,500 (14,600 euros).