A rural Papua New Guinea community has carried out their own version of justice by burning a young woman alive for suspected sorcery. The woman was not the first victim to be gagged, bound and burned alive, as local authorities say these activities have been quite usual for at least several decades, and that they have had trouble policing these remote areas.
The cause of these murders is most likely a retribution for unexplained deaths in the village - deaths that are thought to have been brought on by black magic. Unfortunately, these deaths have a perfectly valid explanation in the real world: AIDS. So, in light of the horrible damage done locally by this virus, the locals are taking out anyone that looks suspicious. “Look, I don’t like it any more than you do,” said Edmond Ogndna, local tribal leader. “But we’re not going to sit idly by while our people are dying. The only solution is to kill the people that are making the other people die. And that could be anybody. Anybody…or even like everybody.”
