Chief Cosmas of Mofako Butu village says he shot dead a monkey only to realize that it was a human being.

Chief Cosmas of Mofako Butu, a village in Mbonge Subdivision in Meme Division of the South West Region, is now in gendarmerie custody after alleging shooting and killing a 25-year-man in the forest. Reports say Chief Cosmas in the night of Friday, October 21, 2016, went hunting in a nearby forest where he saw a monkey jumping from on tree tops.

He reportedly shot and killed the money, but as he went to pick it up, he discovered a man lying on the ground under the tree with his face down. The Chief is said to have rushed home and later went straight to gendarmes to report himself. He is still in custody helping with investigations. Following the unfortunate incident, angry villagers set ablaze the palace and all of the Chief’s belongings.

Sources say the Chief Cosmas’ younger brother is still in the Kumba Main Prison for allegedly killing a man with a broken bottle after hitting him on the head. Chief Cosmas had since been struggling to get him set free. But after Friday’s act, it is speculated that he might have been bewitched to commit the act so that he can join his brother in jail for trying to free a “murderer.” Other sources suggest that Mofako Butu is notorious for witchcraft and instant killings. Meanwhile, the remains of the 25-year-old man are now in the Kumba District Hospital Mortuary pending burial arrangements.