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Post Courier via AP
Bystanders watch as a woman accused of witchcraft is burned alive in the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mount Hagen in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday.
Assailants stripped, tortured and bound a woman accused of witchcraft, then burned her alive in front of hundreds of witnesses in a Papua New Guinea town, police said Friday after one of the highest profile sorcery-related murders in this South Pacific island nation.
Some of the hundreds of bystanders took photographs of Wednesday's brutal slaying. Grisly pictures were published on the front pages of the country's biggest circulating newspapers, The National and Post-Courier. The prime minister, police and diplomats condemned the killing.
Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old who had a child, had been accused of sorcery by relatives of a 6-year-old boy who died in the hospital the day before, police spokesman Dominic Kakas said.
She was tortured with a hot iron rod, bound, doused in gasoline, then set alight on a pile of car tires and trash in the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mount Hagen, Kakas said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Simon Kauba on Friday blasted Mount Hagen investigators by phone for failing to make a single arrest, Kakas said.
The public were apparently not cooperating with police and police carrying out the investigation were not working hard enough, Kakas said.
"He was very, very disappointed that there's been no arrest made as yet," Kakas said.
"The incident happened in broad daylight in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses and yet we haven't picked up any suspects yet. He was very, very curious about that and he blasted the investigators on the phone," Kakas added.
Kakas described the victim's husband as the "prime suspect." The husband had fled the province, Kakas said. Kakas said he did not know if there were a relationship between the husband and the dead boy's family.
Sorcery has traditionally been countered by sorcery in Papuan New Guinean culture. But responses to sorcery allegations have become increasingly violent in recent years.
Kakas said the death was the first sorcery-related murder in Papua New Guinea in a year.
Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga described the murder as "shocking and devilish."
"We are in the 21st century and this is totally unacceptable," Commissioner Kulunga said in a statement.
He suggested courts be established to deal with sorcery allegations, as an alternative to villagers dispensing justice.
Prime Minister Pete O'Neill said he had instructed police to use all available manpower to bring the killers to justice.
"It is reprehensible that women, the old and the weak in our society should be targeted for alleged sorcery or wrongs that they actually have nothing to do with," O'Neill said.
The U.S. Embassy in the national capital Port Moresby issued a statement calling for a sustained international partnership to enhance anti-gender-based violence laws throughout the Pacific.
The embassy of Australia, Papua New Guinea's colonial ruler until independence in 1975 and now its biggest foreign aid donor, said "We join ... all reasonable Papua New Guineans in looking forward to the perpetrators being brought to justice."
The Associated Press
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I wish there was a bit more information about what caused the boy in the hospital to die. The article states that he died, but was it from suspected poisoning, or something else connected to witch craft?
I'd also like to know why they suspect the victim's husband had something to do with her murder. Did he confirm the allegation by the boy's relatives that his wife was a witch? Why did he flee the city; did he do it to save his own life?
I'm usually not for the use of torture to get people to talk, but in this case, I'm willing to make an exception. Cheney's water~boarding techniques are needed & necessary!
2013-02-08
3:12 PM
The news report read a witch was tortured and burned by assailants.
In my opinion I can be wrong the report should have been witches and warlocks have tortured and burned a young woman in her twenties as an offer of sacrifice to their God.
There is a God. In my opinion I can be wrong the assailants were body and or mind possessed to torture and kill the young woman. The assailants lost control of their mind and body. God might have been demostrating body and or mind control possession.
This incidence happened in the past during the Salem Witch Hunt massacre a long time ago in America. Many adults were drowned, burned accused by body and or mind possessed young women of witchcraft. These young women vomit, fainted in court to demonstrate the accused adults cast a spell on them. In my opinion I can be wrong the teenage accusers were body and or mind possessed by God's telephone.
The religious elders who drowned, burned the accused adults are themselves practicing witchcraft in that they were offering sacrifices to their God by killing accused witches and warlocks.
Who has the power? The one who torture and kill or the one who was tortured and burned. Actually, to be truthful, neither one because the one who torture and kill may themselves be body and or mind possessed.
In my opinion I can be wrong God is simply demonstrating that God exists in the real sense. Real enough that persons are tortured and killed.
News Flash: Yes, you may be wrong! Give us strength! Drugs, brainwashing, religious zealots, and crazy is what happened here!
"There is a God."
No, there isn't.
Low I.Q., irrational and misguided. Sounds like Fox News addicts.
Sounds more like our current President
Sounds like you are a Fox Addict.
Nope, never watch Fox News. Just an American concerned that a total incompetent is occupying the White House.
Riiiight... and you get your "news" form other scources. Riiiight.
dtviking - So, Mr. "Magic Pants", Mitt Romney was competent? Lesser of two evils, my friend!
Obama sucks, Romney would suck slightly less.
Fox News' current president?
You mean President Limbaugh?
Fox News' current president is slightly different. High I.Q., irrational and misguided. He knows how to keep the low I.Q., irrational and misguided addicted to gloom and dispair. There is BIG money in it.
A Very Sad case...of Mistaken..Identity..
The Poor Woman..was a Look-alike..for Nancy Pelosi..
President Obama says that Nancy will be speaker of the house again in two years.
ali -Are you on life-support somewhere? Your brain is malfunctioning, as usual.
Poor Libs...liittle Marxists ..on Parade...
Dippin' from the Obammy drool Bucket..
ali - More dumb - where do you come up with it all? Yawn!
The Witch Doctor..
had Promised Her..
Obamacare would ..make her well..
Still malfunctioning......try another beer! Or, miss your meds maybe?
Little Susie Soros..She Creamed her....Free Obama Cheese...hahahha
Are you pretending to be witty? Just more dumb-dumb. Yawn!
Liitle Susie Soros..
Always BLOWING..the Big Balooney..In Marxist Martyrs day Parade
LOL. Everything you say is the level of a 12 year old. Give it up! Your mom is calling you - I think you missed your mac and cheese for lunch!
And yet..
you are threatened enough to reply...?
why don't you and your ego..both go out to dinner together..? hahahahhaah
LOL. Ego isn't needed to respond to you. Just always have hope that if you finally see your stupidity showing through....growth will happen. But, I jest! Ha ha ha ha ha!
The sad victim in this is the little boy left behind without a family. It appears that maybe the father did it and was smart enough to use superstition to scare everyone into silence. Or maybe just plain scared them all. This is more like what we did to the American Indians. It is old and tribal. So who are we to say their religion is wrong and not of this time.
Ha! More like misogynist men do what they can to "get rid of the old lady" without getting caught and having to pay the price!
A "COMMANDER".in OBAMMY NANNY'S "Army of OCCU=PLOP"...hahahahha
Your mama's calling - mac & cheese & "little wienies" for lunch, ali! Your favorite!
OBAMA
SUFFERS
FROM
E.D.
HE
CAN'T
WON'T
GET
IT
UP..
THE
ECONOMY...
E.D. > Economic Dysfunction
Wow! "Little wienies" for lunch, ali!
Poor Peep-Holes- Rights...
Peep-Holes -Republic-of-OCCU=PLOP
Sheeples,
Don't be delusional about burning woman alive for witchcraft accusation. Here is a list of a few more examples in the same equation:
They are in different shapes and forms; one tool is more efficient than the other, but they all equate to the same answer: DEATH and inflicting wounds.
O.k.
Barbarians. Simpletons. Operating on an obsolete framework. Someone should cropdust that place with Cannabis smoke and N,N-Dimethyltryptamine. Burning a human being alive? You're a beast in human form.
newsweek.washingtonpostdotcom/onfaith/undergod/2008/09/palins_new_pastor_problemdothtml
Palin's Pastor believed in witches too.
deal with the bi tch enough and you'd believe in witches, too... whine whine whine (and no cheese)
There is no god - but there is a trillion dollars religious industry feeding the fervor: torture and burning still goes on in one form or another...
YES..The SENATE..is known for That...
Jews, Christians, and Moslems are commanded to kill any witch. Exodus 22:18
This is not just about manipulating religious teachings to provide an excuse for vicious behavior this is about men hating women and having the power to rape or torture or even kill them. Disgusting behavior.
So..OBAMA..is on Their...DRONE LIST..?
OBAMA
BURNS...
EVERYONE.....UP
ALAS...
EMPEROR OBAMA..
GAVE
THE DREADED...
THUMBS...DOWN...
SPARE HIM CEASAR........The Crowd Echoed...
And Yet ...
CEASAR Sent...
The DRONE OF DEATH...
.........For Whom ..The Drone Tolls...?
it Tolls..For Me...and Thee..
Longtime Hollywood Supporter and Contributor...
Obama has nominated ,..GOOFY...to head up...the C.I.A.
NANCY PELOSI..
Narrowly escaped Harm Yeasterday..
When American Chopper pilots ..rescued Her..
From Angry Crowds ..in Papua, Guinea
BREAKING NEWS....
OBAMA..Gives Up his "Doctor's " Practice in Papua,New Guinea...
Will concentrate his ..... Spells ..on Our National Budget / Debt.....
Did you catch the "witch Doctor " from Kenya that cast a spell to get Obamma relected? it is on the internet. He was from Barry's village and knew him as a child, supposedly.
They should have done it to Hilary Clinton. Now that's a real witch.
I am so glad you are here, speaking your faith. We often hear the Muslims do so as the murder people in god's name. Many preachers come on here and disregard the hateful laws of the Old testament as "Metaphors that are to mean that judgement is for "After" someone dies. But you are a "True Believer" so it seems you want to do god's work for him. first of all that is the crime of Heresy since you are assuming the place of God.
Second, you obviously do not know the true origins of the Old Testament or how we came to have them here, influencing the people of the 21sy century. These are HEBREW writings and laws that began when Abraham was a powerful, rich man who , as all rich, powerful people, back then, had their own military force at their disposal. Abraham was different though. he professed to have only one God, and he was god's representative here on Earth. All other's fell to the sword.
Abraham was ejected from the lands of Canaan by the Assyrians and soon became slaves to Egypt. While in slavery, they kept the faith that God had promised the lands of Canaan, so Moses came along to self- fulfill the prophesy. In order to do so he had to form a cohesive body of people that he could muster as a fighting force to conquer the path to Canaan, God's promised land.As the foundation of the laws of Moses, he wrote the laws as "God's Laws", and to break God's laws was a sin. The wages of sin is death, so to break the laws of Moses was to be condemned to die.
To the fanatical zealots of religion today, these laws are referred to as "Holy Scripture"
These same laws were taught tot he indigent people of Papua New Guinea. The Religious Demographics are 99 percent Christain, roman Catholic. The same people that brought over a thousand years of religious tyranny. If you combine this with the fact that their culture is Canibals and head hunters, then the result is a mixmatch of cultures that becomes a kind of Hybrid.
The culture has a custom. They will accuse a rival from another village of being a Witch as a reason kill and eat them. Everyone knows this but the practice is not as common as it was 50 years ago. People want to avoid speaking about the practices because it is a source of meat where meat is scarce.
Research it , if you do not believe me. The Witch is killed and then eaten. I would bet that this happened in this case after the smoke cleared.
Religion is the culprit, but the need for protein is the cause. There is very little to eat in the Jungle and the soil is poor for growing crops. The region is harsh and hard to survive.
So if you are thinking about a vacation over there and someone ask you if you believe in Magic, run for it.
But in the case of the religious zealots, perhaps you could go there as a missionary to teach them your brand of god's love.
The most common error as I see it on these post is people always try to relate the story to our culture. Over there, a witch is a source of food.
Lazarus
Encouraging to see we haven't entirely cornered the loony market in America...
If you think that Papua New Guinea is still a primitive society then remember that in 1916 in the Texan town of Waco, while World War One was going on, the residents burned alive a 17 year old mentally retarded Afro-American teenager called Jesse Washington, who had been convicted of murder of a white woman. Nobody was ever punished for the lynching. The American lawyer Benjamin B. Ferencz, born a Hungarian Jew in what is now Romania (once the gold-rich Roman province of Dacia), while in the U.S. Army, failed to fire warning shots when a group of displaced persons burned alive an SS-guard in a concentration camp crematorium in the last days of World War Two. At least the Nazis killed their victims BEFORE burning their bodies. And yet Mr. Ferencz was never brought to justice. Repaying evil with evil is prohibited both in the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18, Proverbs 25:21-22) and in the New Testament (Matthew 5:38-48, Romans 12:17-21). Those responsible for burning people alive will know what it was to be on the receiving end of their actions, for those people who have undergone a near death experience life review while clinically dead before resuscitation have found out what it felt like to be their victims. God allows nobody's rights to be trampled, whatever the circumstance.