Simicoudza Simicourba, later known as Sitarane, was born in 1858 in Mozambique, then a Portuguese possession in East Africa. He grew up in a family of witch doctors, where spiritual practices and traditional rituals were an everyday part of life. His early exposure to mysticism would later intersect with his life of crime, shaping his reputation as both a violent outlaw and a figure of superstition.

In 1889, at around thirty years old, he was brought to the French colony of Réunion as an indentured laborer. He worked under contract on land belonging to a planter named Mr. Morange in Saint-Benoît. His assignment was recorded under the number 10,8958. Like many indentured workers, his life was marked by harsh conditions and limited freedoms. Two years into his contract, Sitarane abandoned this life and went underground, slipping into the margins of colonial society.

For more than a decade, little is documented about his activities, but by 1906 he had connected with two men: Pierre-Élie Calendrin, a reputed witch doctor and charismatic gang leader, and Emmanuel Fontaine, a younger criminal associate.

The trio of Sitarane, Calendrin, and Fontaine became active criminals by 1906 in the Saint-Pierre region of Réunion. Their early crimes involved thefts, often carried out in audacious ways that frightened locals and fueled their reputation for being untouchable. Their robberies were frequently linked to occult practices, with rumors that they invoked spirits to protect themselves from capture.

Their crimes escalated into murder. At least three victims were confirmed to have been killed while they slept, their throats cut in cold blood. Contemporary rumors suggested the group may have been responsible for as many as a dozen killings. During the investigations, chilling claims surfaced that the gang collected and drank the blood of their victims as part of Calendrin’s witchcraft rituals, adding a layer of horror that shocked the island’s population.

The reign of terror lasted until 1909, when the trio and nearly ten accomplices were arrested. During the trial, Calendrin denied all involvement, portraying himself as innocent. The court, however, found him guilty of leading the gang’s crimes but stopped short of imposing the death penalty, sentencing him to forced labor for life. Fontaine and Sitarane, on the other hand, were sentenced to death.

Before his execution, Sitarane made a final request: he asked to be baptized, perhaps as an act of repentance or an attempt at spiritual salvation. In 1911, he and Fontaine were executed by guillotine