A witch doctor, contracted to exhume the body of a woman said to have suffered injustice in the hands of her in-laws, collapsed and died inside the grave.

The witch doctor, named Idike Ezikanyi from Uwani-Amaogbo, Amabokwu village in Aku town, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State, was allegedly recruited by the late woman’s husband, one Nnadi, and other members of his family.

Ezikanyi was to secretly dig up the body of Nnadi’s wife, Stella, who died five years ago and was buried in her husband’s compound.

An eyewitness told Vanguard that on the fateful night, the Nnadi family got more than they bargained for when the witch doctor suddenly shouted from the grave, begging the ghost of the dead woman to have mercy on him.

However, before those around could react, Ezikanyi, who made to jump out of the grave, fell back in and died instantly.

Sources revealed that the widower had succumbed to pressure from his family members to secretly exhume the body of his late wife and throw it away so that her spirit would be blinded from disturbing those living in the house which she built.

The sources said the family members of the husband had hated his late wife with passion and even disinherited their son.

The late wife had a bad leg; a deformity due to an infection in infancy. They didn’t want their son to marry her, even though the son depended on the lady who was very industrious despite her deformity.

Despite their pressure and blackmail, the two got married and completed a three-bedroom house of their own.

The sources further alleged that the jealousy and recrimination against her escalated, alleging that the lady died after a spiritual attack.

It was gathered that after she died mysteriously, the husband’s family refused to pay the outstanding bride price and also failed to accord her full burial rites.

The family members later packed onto the house and, feeling guilty and afraid of spiritual attack from the dead woman, they contracted the witch doctor exhume her body and throw it into an evil forest.

It was during this bizarre occasion that the witch doctor died.

Again, one of the widower’s sisters visited the witch doctor’s house to condole the family.

However, it was reported, after she finished crying she instantly suffered a stroke and had to be carried back to her home at Umuidu Amabokwu.