Belief in woo comes back to bite you in the weirdest ways

[krelnik]

Policeman in Ontario poses as Obeah Man to infiltrate gang

Believing in woo will come back to bite you in the weirdest ways. At least in this case it is being used for good and not for evil...

http://www.thestar.com/article/284462

One of three men accused in a gang-related slaying led an undercover police officer posing as a black magic practitioner to the murder scene, court heard yesterday.

Once there, Peel police Const. Andrew Cooper, a.k.a. Leon the Obeah Man, broke an egg that spilled blood to show off his powers.

Cooper pretended to be an Obeah Man -- a practitioner of witchcraft and voodoo in Caribbean culture -- to get Collette Robinson and her son Evol to reveal their knowledge of the Oct. 9, 2004 slaying of Youhan Oraha, 22.

Jurors yesterday saw several of the secretly taped videos where Cooper, dressed in a black cloak, used several different props to build his credibility as a powerful Obeah Man.

In one scene, Evol stands and waves a glass three times, shouting "Ashante" in a candle-lit hotel room. In another, Cooper gets Evol to rip a piece of paper with Oraha's name spelled backwards in a bid to see if the young man believed in his powers as much as his mother did.

--Tim Farley

 

[sinclairmcevoy]

Whatever it takes. Using woo to solve a crime, why not?

 

[panchov]

Ha I wonder if that would work on the terrorist suspects. Would that be worse (or better) than being waterboarded? Or would it depend on if you were innocent or guilty?

 

[krelnik]

Ha I wonder if that would work on the terrorist suspects.

Quick! We need some bright lights and 72 actresses who look like they might be virgins...