Fortune-teller directed mob against innocent couple in Sačurov, case goes to court
The Burdov family from Sačurov experienced an attack by dozens of people after a fortune-teller identified their home as the place where missing Tamara was being held. The girl was found alive in a field, and the accused now face trial.
Mob attacked pensioners' home on fortune-teller's word, Tamara was elsewhere
Nový Čas reports on a case that began with a search for missing eighteen-year-old Tamara from Sačurov in Vranov nad Topľou district and ended with an attack on an innocent family. The accused face court today.
Tamara, a mentally disabled young woman who is deaf and non-verbal, disappeared without trace. Police officers, firefighters, volunteers and the East Search Team all took part in the search. In desperation, the family turned to a fortune-teller.
According to media reports, the fortune-teller told the family over the phone that the girl was located in a specific house near the settlement. "She is inside the house. She needs to be rescued. She is suffering," she allegedly said during the call.
The house the fortune-teller pointed to belonged to seventy-year-old Oliver Burda and his wife. "She told them that we were hiding her," said the pensioner describing the circumstances of the incident.
Dozens of people at the fence
Dozens of people soon gathered in front of the Burdov home. "It wasn't one, two or three. The whole settlement, I'm telling you. There were crowds of them around the fence. Later they were all over the yard," said the injured party Oliver Burda.
The mob damaged the fence, a car and the entrance areas of the house. Settlement residents threatened the family with death and demanded that they hand over the missing girl, whom they believed was hiding there.
Police, upon arrival, thoroughly searched the house with service dogs — basements, attics, all rooms. They did not find Tamara. "They went through the entire flat, the entire house, basements, attics, everything. They established that there was nothing there. But no one can compensate us for the stress we have already suffered," stated Burda.
Tamara alive, but the Burdovs maintain they were wronged
The missing Tamara was found six days later in a field near the settlement. She was alive. According to police findings, she had never been in the Burdov home.
The injured family has maintained from the beginning that they became victims of mob hysteria unleashed by the fortune-teller's words. "One fortune-teller gave them false information and falsely accused us. That is why I decided to file a criminal complaint against her," declared Oliver Burda shortly after the incident.
The case, in which those accused of assault, property damage and threats are facing charges, is being dealt with by court today.
Source: Nový Čas