MAIL ONLINE: Helen Rumbali was dragged from her home tortured and beheaded in public / Villagers said fire flies led them to her house - a sign she was a witch / They accused her of killing another villager - who died from sickness - with her sorcery / Experts say disparity in wealth and jealousy are main reasons for increases in such attacks
A teacher has been tortured and beheaded by her neighbours in a Papua New Guinea village because they say she was a witch responsible for the death of a sick villager.
The angry mob brandishing guns, machetes and axes surrounded her house and pulled Helen Rumbali, her sister and two nieces away. They then burnt down the house.
They say a swarm of fire flies led them from the deceased person's grave to her house - sure evidence they say that she was a sorcerer and was practicing black magic.
Helen's older sister and younger nieces were slashed with knives, then released after negotiations with police. But the mob went on to torture the former teacher, in her 40s, and then publicly cut off her head.
The sickening and heinous act is one of many horrific similar stories coming out from the island, often considered a paradise in the Pacific. » | Helen Collis | Monday, June 10, 2013
