Mother tortured and set alight over sorcery claim

A young mother accused of sorcery was stripped naked, doused with petrol and burned alive in front of a crowd, including schoolchildren, in Papua New Guinea.

The woman, named by The National newspaper as Kepari Leniata, 20, was reportedly tortured witha branding iron and tied up, splashed with fuel and set alight on a pile of rubbish topped with car tyres.

According to the rival Post-Courier newspaper she was torched by villagers who claimed she killed a six-year-old boy through sorcery, with police outnumbered by onlookers and unable to intervene.

A fire engine that responded to the incident, which took place on Wednesday in Mount Hagen city in the Western Highlands, was also chased away.

According to the reports, which were accompanied by graphic front-page images of the woman’s burning corpse, she admitted to killing the boy, who died after being hospitalised with stomach and chest pains.

Police said they were treating the torching as murder and preparing charges against those responsible.