'Graverobbers stole my baby's body to use it for black magic' - mum claims

Horror: Little Eamon's were snatch in Pakistan - his mum fears his body could have been used in black magic

A baby’s body was stolen from its grave by thieves who may have used it for black magic, a devastated mum has claimed. Aneela Afzal’s son Eamon lived for just four hours after he was born three months premature in a car as she rushed to hospital, the Birmingham Mail reports.

The tot was buried in Pakistan alongside generations of her family – but Aneela said his remains were later snatched by raiders who also “trashed” the graveyard.

Aneela, a healthcare assistant, said: “Things like that happen every day in that country but I never expected it would happen to my baby.

“One theory was that the body had been taken to be used for black magic.

“I don’t really know what to do now.”

Eamon’s grave was left open by his family in the hope his remains would be returned.

But Aneela said she had given up hope of that happening.

And the 24-year-old said she did not even think it was worth reporting the theft of her son’s body to police.

“We didn’t think it was worth it because the police are corrupt in Pakistan,” she said.

Eamon was born in January 2012 as Aneela and her husband Kasim, 23, rushed to hospital from their Staffordshire home.

The couple, who have no other children, took him to be buried at her family’s cemetery near Islamabad, and relatives visited the grave every day.

But Aneela and Kasim, who have since moved to Birmingham from Burton-on-Trent, said they were horrified to receive a call from her grandmother two months later saying the cemetery had been vandalised and Eamon’s body had been taken.

She said her relationship with her family had suffered over the tragedy.

“I’m still very upset about it and am thinking about trying counselling to help me cope,” Aneela said.

“I try to take things one day at a time. I just want to know that my son is at peace somewhere now.

“I work with vulnerable people and that brings me some comfort.

“I hope it will pay for my sins, for whatever I did to deserve this.”

In May, the authorities in Pakistan passed a law allowing criminals convicted of desecrating a grave to be jailed for life.

The legislation was agreed in a bid to curb the growing problem.

In April 2011, two brothers were reportedly arrested in Bhakkar, Punjab after they were found to have disinterred corpses in a graveyard.

And in October 2013, the body of a Hindu was said to have been dug out and placed outside the graveyard in the province of Sindh.