Law-and-order chairman wants death penalty for sorcerers and their killers

National

THE death penalty must apply to sorcerers and their killers, says Morobe law-and-order committee chairman Sam Oyaya.
Oyaya told The National that sorcery had existed in the country for ages and was here to stay.
He said the best option was finding an effective solution to eradicate it.
“The government says it does not believe in sorcery but ironically we the people believe in its existence,” Oyaya said.
“Let’s be honest. Sorcery exists in this country and is here to stay. It doesn’t matter what the government might want us to think. My suggestion is to apply the death penalty to the sorcerers and those who kill the sorcerers.”
Oyaya said sorcery was one of the reasons people migrated to towns.
He said educated and well-to-do people were scared of returning to their own villages because of sorcery.
“This is widespread and happening in all of PNG. We cannot deny it and pretend everything is okay.”
Oyaya said sorcery was the work of people possessed with evil spirits or who have connections to the spiritual world where they can be transformed using supernatural means to attack others.
“Because it is a spiritual matter connected to the physical world it is very difficult to prove sorcery allegations,” Oyaya said.