PNG police offer reward to try and solve Hela sorcery murder

RNZ News

09-07-2025

Sorcery related violence victims, mostly women, number in the hundreds each year.
Photo:
123RF
Content warning: This story discusses violence against women.
Reports of killings in Papua New Guinea (PNG), committed by people claiming their victims were sorcerers, are becoming more and more frequent.
The victims, mostly women, number in the hundreds each year.
There has long been an effort to curb what is known as Sorcery Accusation Relation Violence (SARV), but the practice continues.
RNZ Pacific spoke its RNZ correspondent Scott Waide about the victim in a recent, particularly barbaric murder in Hela Province, in the PNG Highlands.
Hands of a sorcery related violence survivor.
Photo:
Scott Waide
(This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
SCOTT WAIDE:
She is a mother of six, married to a teacher. Her husband was a teacher, and her husband died, and she was accused of sorcery and being responsible for his death. The immediate family of the husband took her and tortured her, as far as I know, over a period of two nights.
She was stripped and burned over that period, and then on the third day, allowed to wear some clothing, and she was taken to a bridge and shot.
Then everything was recorded on video, her torture, the accusations leveled against her. I've just received a translation of the accusations, and it's pretty insane, the level of accusations. So torture over two days and then taken and killed.
DON WISEMAN: So much for relying on relatives to protect you after your husband dies.
SW:
Yeah, that's the unfortunate situation of women married into those large families. Because I've spoken to several, you know, several organisations, members of organisations, who deal directly with SARV and that's pretty much the case when their husbands, the husbands of those women, die.
They are the subject of accusations at first and then, if they're very unlucky, torture and eventual death.
DW: Now the Regional Police Commissioner, Joseph Tondop, he seems to be moving quickly on this.
SW:
Yes, under Tondop's command, he's seen various instances of Sorcery Accusation Related killings, so he's pretty much fed up with, one, the inaction by the communities themselves, and the difficulty of getting those perpetrators brought to justice.
He has issued orders for the provincial police commander to mobilise resources and go after the killers. Over the last two days, there's been significant development with Commissioner Manning - Police, Commissioner Manning - posting a 50,000 kina reward for information leading to the arrest of those people.
There's also been one arrest, and in particular, a close relative of the woman being arrested as well, and his identity brought to the police as well. So there's been significant progress since that incident.
DW: And they have available, of course, a video.
SW:
Yes, it is, you know, quite disturbing that with social media now, a lot of that brutality is recorded and posted without any thought of the impact it's going to have on the wider community.
Sometimes I'm thinking, the communities want to outdo themselves by posting videos of the accusations and the tortures. Yeah, pretty brutal video, this one.
DW: Mr Tondop wants to see a wider police action to combat SARV across the country. He wants a national strategy. Is that likely? Is that going to happen?
SW:
There are various organisations working towards a national strategy. But you know, the the communities and the accusations and how the communities respond to SARV is varied. You know, very, very different in different communities and in the Highlands, and in particular, there are similarities,
A lot of the community based organisations, church based organisations have developed their own systems to deal with SARV, for instance, in Enga, where the UN has put an enormous amount of resources.
I just spoke to a UN official who said they can't put safe houses in Enga because the safe houses will be attacked. The victims of sorcery violence are brought out of Enga and placed in other provinces where there are safe houses.
So, the systems are varied. There needs to be a strategy, as Tondop said, on a national scale, but it is a complex area to work within, and a lot of times the police and government officials rely on community based organisations and individuals who bravely go out and rescue these women.
DW: Are incidents of SARV becoming more common? Or are they now, because of the wider availability of media, just being reported?
SW:
I think they are becoming a lot more prevalent. I was just speaking with a church health worker based in Hela, and he was saying that in the last six months, there's been instances every month that he has heard or seen, particularly outside of Tari itself.
It is becoming prevalent, and I think the other factor is that people are reporting it more, and there is a lot more awareness in the community.
These incidents are being reported to police or to the churches or to community based organisations in the hope that it'll be stopped or help will be brought to them.