Sorcery cases hard

 THE increase in sorcery-related killings in Madang is a major concern but one that cannot be handled by police alone, an officer says.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the police officer said: “It is very hard to control these killings. If you talk to a sorcerer you will understand this.
“To arrest people involved in this is hard as you must have evidence.”
The source said investigations into such practices were problematic because the Sorcery Act did not specify how to tackle the issues.
“All deaths have their story of how and what happened but when we take the body to the morgue it becomes another post mortem case for the hospital with a medical reason for the death,” he said.
“Where does that leave us? We cannot explain the unexplained in our reports.”
In Naho Rawa local level government in Rai Coast, 30 cases of sorcery-related killings were reported in the past few months.
A death in Ariangon, Bogia, was reported last week where a suspected sorcerer was ambushed and killed by villagers.
He was accused of causing the death of a young medical worker whose body was found after three days in a bag of garden produce.
Another sorcerer in Sogeram, Transgogol, was killed by villagers.
Provincial police commander Sylvester Kalaut could not be reached for comment.