By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby
Prime Minister James Marape says Papua New Guineans who continue to commit crimes under the pretext of “sorcery” must be arrested and charged by police.
Marape was responding to questions asked by The National in relation to the death of Mary Kopari who was killed by an angry mob over allegations of sorcery in Margarima, Hela.
“People shouldn’t be killing women or girls over sorcery, as far as Papua New Guinea is concerned,” he said.
- READ MORE: Protect women accused of ‘sorcery’ and punish attackers, watchdog tells PNG 1
- ‘It gives us nightmares,’ says PNG police officer dealing with domestic violence 2
“Killing someone accused of sorcery is illegal, so police should be doing their job.
“We discourage anyone from killing another over sorcery, if you feel that someone has caused an offence, there are appropriate charges to be laid against that person”
The special Parliamentary Committee on Gender-Based Violence chairman, Charles Abel, has written a letter to Police Commissioner David Manning requesting for information on actions taken over:
- sorcery accusations related killing in Hela; and
- the systematic police response to sorcery accusation-related violence.
Information needed by Monday
Abel said the information must be provided to the committee secretariat no later than Monday.
Hela police have told The National that eight suspects were identified in the horror torture and killing.
Officer-in-charge of Hela CID Sergeant Daniel Olabe said after the killing that there had been a confrontation between the woman’s family and the husband’s family.
“From the video, we have identified eight men who tortured the woman.”
However, no charges have yet been made.
Republished with permission.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report 3 and was authored by APR editor.