Police dismiss reports of women rounded up over sorcery allegations

REPORTS of 17 women rounded up by the community at Pimaga in Kutubu, Southern Highland, over sorcery allegations, have been deemed false rumours and speculation by provincial police commander Chief Supt Martin Lakari.
He said it was widely reported that the women were associated with violence, torturing and murder but it was not true.
Chief Supt Lakari, who advised Police Minister Bryan Kramer about the case, said he had sent police to the scene at the Pimaga rural health centre.
“I dispatched police personnel to the alleged sorcery associated violence scene and they discovered that a boy aged about five was mauled to death by a dog.
“The owner of the dog was found to the matron of the health centre,” he said. “The community leaders and the health workers were in the process of settling the issue when police arrived. In police presence, the leaders solved the issue and straight after that the police returned to their base at Moro.”