Man rescues sister from torturers

A 50-year-old woman has been rescued by her brother and several other men after she was tied up and tortured by armed men in a village in Wapenamanda, Enga, for 10 hours on March 7.
The woman, who has been identified, was accused of causing the death of a young man who died after allegedly drinking from a water source near her home.
Relatives of the young man found him dead in his home and blamed the victim.
While torturing her, they forced the woman to admit to the death.
She told them she had not caused any death however, they used bush knives and iron bars to assault her.
After the woman was rescued, she was taken out of Wapenmanda and taken to Western Highlands and hidden by her brother.
She was kept hidden from March 7 to March 11 before she was taken to hospital.
When news of the torture and rescue reached human rights defender Solo Yokopyao, he immediately went to Western Highlands and spoke to the woman.
“I gained her confidence and with her brother’s assistance, I took police to where she was being kept and taken care of by her brother and we took her to the hospital where she is recovering and being protected by police,” Yokopyao said.
Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas said: “I have not been properly briefed yet, however we the Enga government have condemned sorcery in the province as this is not our tradition and I urge police to take appropriate actions against the perpetrators.”
Police Commissioner David Manning when told of the torture of the woman said there were many cases of people being accused of sorcery but there was yet to be proof that a deceased had actually died of sorcery.
“Such cases have not been proven by post-mortems on those who allegedly died of sorcery, no one has been found to be missing hearts, lungs or such cases.”
“Yet we have men and sometimes women going into homes of innocent women and physically pulling them out and coercing then into saying they did kill the deceased,” Manning said.
Yokopyao told The National that the woman told him, “they forced me to admit to removing the deceased’s heart and eating it”.
“The woman is traumatised and the church has stepped in to assist in ensuring the woman is taken care of.”
Police in Enga are investigating the case.