There’ll be no “witch doctor” testifying as an expert witness for a Senegalese-raised man who claims he slashed his ex-girlfriend to death in her new boyfriend’s bed because a “curse” compelled him to, a Manhattan judge ruled yesterday.
Cheikh Ndao had been set to testify on behalf of admitted killer Bakary Camara, and would have told jurors that as a Bronx-based Imam, he had on several occasions come across other West African people who’d been cursed — including a woman who couldn’t get pregnant until he had her drink special Koran-blessed water.
“That makes him a witch doctor, in a sense,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said after Ndao took the witness stand to tell his curse-lifting war stories in a pre-trial hearing.
“I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that it’s not even borderline close that he’s an expert,” Merchan said in barring the witchy testimony.
Camara admits he slashed beautiful Italian college student Rita Morelli to death, but has claimed in a confession note and to doctors that he was powerless to do otherwise.
Last week, defense lawyer Seema Iyer told lead prosecutor Evan Krutoy that she wanted to call an expert in West African curses to the stand, presumably to convince jurors that Camara didn’t kill Morelli intentionally, and is therefore innocent of murder.
Camara’s trial continues today with a second day of jury selection.