Innocent witch- the tragic story of a woman

Manama

“Beware of the witch. She will knock on your door and beg for money. If she doesn’t receive what she desired, she will cast a spell on you, hypnotise you and take your money,” this warning was widely circulated during the past couple of days among the social media users in Bahrain.

Along with the post was a picture of a lady, who seems to be in her twenties and carrying a baby. It was claimed that the lady would knock on the doors of Riffa and Muharraq residents, asking for money to help her ill baby.

“Don’t open your doors to this lady. She would mumble some words of an alien language, hypnotise you and make you give her your money willingly, before she leaves,” the post warned.

Investigating further, the story took another turn when DT News was able to reach out to the lady’s family members, who denied that their daughter is involved in any sort of sorcery, in fact they alleged that “she is forced by her drug-addict husband into beggary, so he can afford to buy drugs.”

Speaking to DT News yesterday, without revealing her name or the family’s name, was the sister of the alleged witch. She informed that her sister, Ayat, 24, has been pushed to beg by her second husband and the father of two of her sons.

“Ayat is going through tight situations in her financial and marital lives. She is a mother of four children, including a six year old with hearing impairment and two toddlers with cardiac issues,” said the sister.

According to the sister, Ayat has been married to her current husband, immediately after she divorced the previous one, around four years back.

“Since she moved in with her second husband in Buhair area in Riffa, our lives have turned upside down. He has a drug addiction problem and would be frequently detained or hospitalised. He constantly mistreated her. They would engage in conflicts that usually take an extreme turn, as he would beat, burn and cut her. She even came home once with her head completely shaved,” the sister informed.

She elaborated, “Ayat was divorced twice from this man. But she would not listen to our advice to leave him, and she would go back to him only few days after he tortured her. We filed several complaints against him, but she would withdraw them soon.”

Speaking on the recent rumors about Ayat being a sorcerer, the sister said that they were affected as a family from the widespread of her picture on social media, showing her begging on the road.

“He would take her out on the road, stop on a side and monitor her, while she begs, with her son in her lap. By the end of the day, he will take the money from her and use it in getting high with his friends,” she added.

The sister expressed that their mother, who works as a teacher, is in a sever state of depression and stopped going to work. She also said that her younger sisters also stopped going to school, as people constantly embarrass them and ask about what happened to Ayat.

Mom took her to jail

The sister also said that their “mother was fed up with the consequences of Ayat’s wrong decisions and stubbornness.”

“Her husband had asked her to rent several vehicles in her name. with her not paying the due amounts to the car-rental offices, a complaint was filed against her and an arrest warrant was issued to nab her. Simultaneously with Ayat’s recent scandal, our mother took herself to the police station, where she was immediately detained,” the sister said.

The mother also posted her number to popular local social media networks, asking the public to contact her in case Ayat was spotted begging anywhere.

When asked about the fate of the children, the sister said that both toddlers are with her inside prison, while the elder children (son, 6 and daughter, 8) are with their father (the first husband).