SHP cops raise concern over ‘bamboo man’

By JAMES APA
GUMUNO
THE use of the “bamboo man” to reveal the identity of sorcerers in Southern Highlands is causing problems, the provincial police commander says.
Chief Insp Sibron Patoto said last Friday many innocent people had been tortured, their homes destroyed and were chased out of their communities after a man brandishing a bamboo “identified’ them as responsible for the deaths.
Patoto was concerned about the widespread use of the method by men who claim to possess supernatural powers and could identify any one responsible for the death of other people.
He called on Southern Highlanders to stop hiring such people.
Patoto said this after four men, including a policeman based in Ia­libu, were attacked by the relatives of the two deceased in separate incidents in Ialibu and East Pangia during the Easter weekend.
Patoto said the relatives of a man who died during Easter weekend at Lama village, Ialibu, attacked two of their clansmen and burnt down four of their houses after a man they hired from Erave district accused them of being responsible for the death of the man.
He said the relatives of the deceased were frustrated and attacked the two men on the spot, burnt down their houses and chased them and their family members away.
He said the two men were now admitted at the Mendi General Hospital.
Patoto said last Tuesday, the same man was hired by the relatives of a young boy who died at Kumian village in East Pangia.
Patoto said the man used his bamboo device and pointed at an elderly man.
He said relatives of the deceased attacked the elderly man and his younger brother who was a policeman based at Ialibu.