A 20-year-old mother, Kepari Leniata, was tossed screaming on to a pyre of tyres and burned alive after being accused of killing a neighbour's six-year-old son with sorcery.
The horrendous scene took place in the village of Paiala, in the highlands of Papua New Guinea where many believe that witchcraft exists and sorcery is used to kill enemies.
The tragedy unfolded after Miss Leniata's young neighbour fell sick on Tuesday morning. He complained of pains in the stomach and chest and was taken to Mt Hagen hospital where he died a few hours later.
Relatives of the boy were suspicious that witchcraft was involved in the death and learned that two women had gone into hiding in the jungle.After they were tracked down, the pair admitted they practised sorcery but had nothing to do with the boy's death. Miss Leniata, they said, was the person responsible.
The boy's family went to her hut at 7am on Wednesday, dragged her from her hut, stripped and tortured her with white-hot iron rods. She was then dragged to a local rubbish dump, doused in petrol and, with hands and feet bound, thrown on a fire of burning tyres. As the mother-of-two screamed in agony, more petrol-soaked tyres were thrown on top of her.
Police who rushed to the area were turned back by the angry crowd, but were able to drive away with one of the other women. A firetruck which had been called to the scene was chased away by the crowd.
However the law has recently seen a rise in attacks on innocent people accused of black magic, such as that on Miss Leniata, and convictions by ‘kangaroo courts’ made up of of local village elders.
Papua New Guinean police have launched a murder investigation and are reportedly preparing charges against those responsible.
Authorities and international diplomats have spoken out against the torching of the young mother, leaves behind two children, the youngest an eight-month-old girl.
The country's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has sworn to bring the killers to justice, as he addressed the matter in a statement today.
‘No one commits such a despicable act in the society that all of us, including Kepari, belong to,' he said.
‘Barbaric killings connected with alleged sorcery. Violence against women because of this belief that sorcery kills. These are becoming all too common in certain parts of the country.
'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.’
The U.S. embassy on the Papua New Guinea issued a statement condemning the "’brutal murder’ calling it evidence of ‘pervasive gender-based violence’.
’We add our voice to those of Papua New Guinean religious and civil society leaders who have spoken out against the brutality inflicted upon Ms Leniata,’ the embassy said.
'There is no possible justification for this sort of violence. We hope that appropriate resources are devoted to identifying, prosecuting, and punishing those responsible for Ms Leniata's murder.’
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