Accused as Werewolves: Three Deaf Women Killed in Cabaret, Haiti, and a Case That Stalled

This is not a sighting. No creature was seen. In March 2016, three young women who were deaf and unable to speak were killed near Cabaret, Haiti, after, as the human-rights group RNDDH puts it, they were "taxed" with being loups-garous, werewolves. The word is the accusers'. The women are not named here.

What the rights group says

According to the Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH), the bodies of three young deaf women were found on March 18, 2016 in a canal at Haut Damier, a locality of Cabaret. The group says the women had been unable to get home the day the Duvivier bridge collapsed. One of them, who had relatives in Cabaret, took her friends there for the night. On arrival, RNDDH says, they were "taxed with being loups-garous" and were killed in the courtyard of that relative's home. RNDDH's headline attributes the killings to relatives of one of the victims; that is the organisation's allegation, and a court has not ruled on it. Their account of the warning signs, the method and the aftermath is not repeated here.

Le Nouvelliste, on March 28, reports the bodies were found at about 6 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, in a rainwater drainage canal at Haut-Damier. It headlines the story "taken for werewolves," and quotes Haiti's national police deputy spokesman as saying three people were in custody.

The official response

HaitiLibre first reported the deaths on March 26. It carried a note from Haiti's state secretary for the integration of people with disabilities, who said a traffic jam after a bridge partly collapsed had pushed the women onto an unusual route home, and that he had asked the justice ministry to open an investigation. A March 31 follow-up says disability-rights groups called it a triple lynching and demanded justice; it describes the women as having been taken for "witches" (sorcières), not werewolves. The words differ between outlets. Both are the language of the accusation.

Handicap.fr, on April 4, reports that about a hundred people marched in Port-au-Prince on April 1 against stigma and violence toward people with disabilities, and places the case in a wider pattern in which disability is sometimes taken for a sign of evil.

Arrests, then a stall

RNDDH's later justice report, dated November 8, 2016, lists three arrests: two on March 19 and one on March 26. It says three further alleged principal perpetrators fled and are the subject of a warrant. Its overall assessment of the justice system, which calls many high-profile cases stagnant, singles this one out: the case "n'a pas du tout avancé" ("has not advanced at all") despite promises from the judicial authorities.

That is the last dated record found for 2016. No charge, trial or verdict appears in any of the sources read. A search for later developments suggests the case remained unresolved in later years, but those pages are after this article's date and were not opened.

How to read the label

The word loup-garou here is a charge, not a description. Nobody in the reports claims to have seen a creature, and the women were not werewolves. What the record shows is a deadly accusation against people who could not hear or speak, in a place far from home, on a night when a bridge failure had stranded them. The outlets agree on little else: the date differs by a day, the word differs between loups-garous and sorcières, and the identities and motives of those responsible rest on allegations, not findings.

This record sits in the archive as a case of violence driven by superstition, and as a reminder that the werewolf label has been used to justify harm to real people.

Bottom line

Per RNDDH, three young deaf women were killed at Haut Damier, Cabaret, Haiti, on or about March 18–19, 2016, after being accused of being loups-garous. Three people were arrested within days, three others are subject to a warrant, and by November 8, 2016 RNDDH said the case had not advanced. No verdict has been confirmed.

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Attribution / source table

• Claim: Bodies found Mar 18 at Haut Damier; bridge collapse; accused of being loups-garous; RNDDH's allegation of relatives' involvement
  Attribution: RNDDH, case report (dated Apr 26, 2016)
  Link: RNDDH
• Claim: Found about 6 a.m. Sat Mar 19; "taken for werewolves"; three in custody (police deputy spokesman)
  Attribution: Le Nouvelliste (Juno Jean Baptiste), Mar 28, 2016
  Link: Le Nouvelliste
• Claim: First report; state secretary's note; investigation requested
  Attribution: HaitiLibre, Mar 26, 2016
  Link: HaitiLibre
• Claim: "Triple lynching"; "sorcières"; calls for justice
  Attribution: HaitiLibre, Mar 31, 2016
  Link: HaitiLibre
• Claim: Port-au-Prince march Apr 1; loups-garous
  Attribution: Handicap.fr, Apr 4, 2016
  Link: Handicap.fr
• Claim: Arrests Mar 19 (two) and Mar 26 (one); three at large under a warrant; case "has not advanced"
  Attribution: RNDDH, justice report, Nov 8, 2016 (PDF)
  Link: RNDDH PDF

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Legal / disclaimer footer

News and cryptid-record commentary only. Nothing here confirms any creature. This page concerns a reported killing; every claim about the victims, suspects, arrests and motives belongs to its source and is attributed as published. Allegations are not findings of guilt. The victims and suspects are deliberately not named, and the map location is approximate to town level.