《中英對照讀新聞》Nigerian 'ritual murderer' lynched by mob 奈及利亞「儀式殺人犯」遭暴民私刑處決

◎張其賢

A Nigerian who confessed to taking part in the ritual murders of three women was beaten to death by an irate mob, police said recently.

一名供稱參與三位婦女之儀式謀殺的奈及利亞人，被憤怒的暴民活活打死，警方最近說。

The remote northern town of Bakori had been living in fear after mutilated corpses of three women were found with some of their body parts removed, apparently for use in magic ceremonies.

奈及利亞偏遠的北部小鎮巴叩里，先前一直生活在恐懼之中；三位婦女的屍體被人發現，她們部份的身體部位被割除，似乎是供作法儀式之用。

One day passers-by heard a woman screaming in a field outside the town and ran to her aid, grabbing a man called Lawan Hassan as he attacked her, police spokeman Salisu Sirajo said.

有一天，幾位路人聽到鎮外的農田裡傳來一位婦女的尖叫聲，便跑過去幫她，結果在一個名叫拉旺•哈山的男子攻擊她時將他抓住，警方發言人沙力蘇•席拉卓說。

“They took him to the office of the traditional chief of the town where he confessed to taking part in the ritual murders of three women in the town in the last two weeks,” Sirajo said.

「他們把他帶到鎮上傳統長老的辦公室，他在那裡坦承在過去兩個星期裡參與了對三名鎮上婦女的儀式謀殺行為」，席拉卓說。

“But when news of the arrest went round, a mob besieged the chief's office demanding for the man to be surrendered to them. The chief had no option but to oblige the mob, which burnt a part of his office. The man was killed on the spot,” he said.

「但是當他被捕的消息傳開後，一群暴民包圍了長老的辦公室，要求交出這名男子。暴民焚燒長老辦公室的一部份，長老不得不順從暴民。這名男子當場被殺死」，他說。

新聞辭典

ritual murder：儀式謀殺。ritual的字根是rite，名詞，指具有宗教或神秘色彩的儀式，ritual本身則可當形容詞「儀式的」或名詞「儀式」用。

lynch：動詞，（被暴民）私刑處決。

irate：形容詞，憤怒的。

mutilate：動詞，割除（人或動物的肢體或器官）。

confess：動詞，供稱，承認。名詞是confession。

on the spot：副詞片語，當場。