Brother-from-hell dismembered his albino sibling to sell his body parts as good luck charms in horror killing

A BROTHER-from-hell has dismembered his albino sibling to sell his body parts as good luck charms in a horror killing.

Macdonald Masumbuka, 22, was lured into a graveyard and slayed by his brother and four other men in Malawi in 2018.

The opportunistic killers were sentenced to life with hard labour at Malawi high court today.

The shocking murder comes as more than 170 albinos - an inherited genetic condition where people are born without any kind of pigment in their body - since 2014 as witch doctors spread the idea they possess mystical powers.

Their body parts and bones are sought after for rituals, according to the .

Masumbuka was reported missing in the southern district of Machinga in February 2018.

Investigators found his torso and head a month later but his arms and legs had been removed.

It's understood Macdonald had been coaxed into an area by his brother who told him they had found him a woman to marry.

Among those sentenced today include Catholic priest Thomas Muhosha, a herbalist, and a police officer while two other men received a lesser sentence of 30 years in prison.

Speaking at today's sentencing, Judge Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga said Masumbuka had been betrayed by the people closest to him.

Public prosecutor Steve Kayuni said: "MacDonald was betrayed by those he had trust in, namely the brother, the priest, the policeman and the clinical officer.

"These are positions of trust."

Albinos have long been the targets of sick killings in Malawi and across parts of Africa.

Albinism is more common in East Africa than in other parts of the world.

In 2016, UN expert Ikponwosa Ero warned that Malawi's estimated 10,000 albinos face "extinction" if these killings continue, adding that the situation "constitutes an emergency, a crisis disturbing in its proportions".