Voodoo woman jailed

[12 September 2008]

A woman who told a court she was forced into crime because of a voodoo curse on her and her family has been jailed for five years.

Remi Fakorede, 46, claimed that the same voodoo curse caused the fingers of one of her six children to fall off, which she showed to the courtroom.

She was then convicted for her involvement in a £925,000 tax credit fraud. Her daughter, Denise Shofalawe-Cokerenise, 21, was jailed for one year for laundering £70,000 of the stolen money. The Judge said that Nigerian-born Fakorede's behaviour was "utterly disgraceful" and "a cynical attempt to manipulate the jury". DNA tests have been ordered to find out who the fingers belonged to, although it is understood that the defendant's 3-year old daughter lost part of her hand having suffered renal problems and developing gangrene. Fakorede had used different combinations of her names to create up to 20 fake families with children, often disabled twins, to make tax credit claims. She also used stolen national insurance numbers and hid her £40,000-a-year salary and her partner's existence to trick authorities.

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