Stop Killing Woman, says PNG Prime Minister

PNG PRIME Minister James Marape says those who continue to commit crimes in 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. “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 on sorcery accusation related killing in Hela and the systematic RPNGC response to sorcery accusation related violence.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.”

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