A Fayette County jury found a Clayton County man not guilty Thursday of aggravated stalking.

Birane Mbengue was accused of threatening the grandmother of his baby after the woman was awarded temporary custody of the child following a juvenile court hearing in January 2007.

The victim, who is from West Africa, testified and said that Mbengue threatened to kill her using a gun or voodoo and that he wasn’t worried about what police or judges would do as a result. The woman explained that in her culture, voodoo is taken very seriously, and she considered the alleged threat terrifying.

“I was shaking,” the victim said.

The victim took Mbengue’s words so seriously that a courthouse deputy was summoned immediately as the incident took place in the hallway outside the courtroom, she testified. After that, she and her husband walked down to Fayette County Magistrate Court to swear out a warrant for Mbengue’s arrest based on the threats.

Mbengue never married the mother of his son, and apparently never legally legitimized himself as the father of the child, court officials said.

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