Police say Sir Salamo Injia targeted in ambush because his tribe had not paid compensation for the death of a man said to have been killed with sorcery

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A chief justice has been ambushed and attacked in another incident related to Papua New Guinea’s escalating problem with sorcery-related violence.

The ambush followed the kidnapping and torture of two women from the judge’s tribe, who were accused of killing a man with sorcery.

Chief justice Sir Salamo Injia was traveling from his home in Enga province’s Wapenamanda district on Monday when he and his police escort were stopped at a makeshift roadblock.

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The acting police commander, Epenes Nili, said both vehicles were attacked by a large group of men in what he believed was a preplanned ambush.

“They didn’t listen to the police [trying to move the crowd on] and started attacking the police vehicle, and throwing stones and rocks at the chief justice’s vehicle,” he told Guardian Australia.

The cars fled the scene and returned to Injia’s home, Nili said. The chief justice was not hurt but was shaken after the incident.

Injia was targeted because his tribe had not paid compensation for the death of a man said to have been killed with sorcery, Nili said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The remote highlands of Papua New Guinea, where belief in sanguma or sorcery is common. Photograph: Helen Davidson/The Guardian

In December an elderly man died from an illness and his tribe falsely accused two women from a neighbouring village – home to the chief justice – of sanguma, or sorcery.

The two women were kidnapped and tortured with hot metal rods, before being rescued. The man’s family demanded compensation from the women’s tribe.

“When that news reached my office, I instructed a postmortem and a medical report to be obtained, so we could inform the relatives of the elderly man about his death,” Nili said.

“But the man’s tribe disobeyed my directive, and they went ahead without our knowledge and buried him, high up in the mountains. The same day they covered the grave with concrete, making it hard for police to exhume the body.”

Sorcery accusations – and violent summary attacks – occur with increasing frequency in PNG, but little action is taken.

PNG’s foreign minister, Rimbink Pato, who is also the MP for the Wapenamanda district, condemned the attack on Injia, particularly as it was against “one of the most respected citizens of our great country”.

Pato called for the perpetrators to face the full force of the law, and said it was “time that accusations based on sanguma are dismissed by one and all as arising out of superstition”.

In recent months numerous attacks, including murders and primarily against women, have occurred in Pato’s district.

In one case two women, Yakol Anton and Shirley Kangup, were tortured to death. Anton had been accused of sanguma, and Kangup happened to walk past while she was being tortured and was also accused, perhaps because of her speech impediment.

Last year in Enga province a six-year-old was accused of sanguma and was brutally tortured. The girl, who was rescued and is recovering in hospital, is the daughter of the late Kepari Leniata, who was accused of sanguma and murdered in 2013.

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Despite the brutal and frequent attacks, which occur completely outside the nation’s justice system and are punishable by death, there have been no convictions.

Perpetrators act within a culture of strong belief in sorcery, and with the knowledge they often have broad public support.

Nili said the only hindrance the police had was the reluctance of victims and their families to come forward – usually because of their fear of retribution – however he has also spoken in the past of a lack of police resources to respond and investigate.

Nili said a man who was arrested and charged last year had his murder charge thrown out because of a lack of evidence.

In the case of the attack on the chief justice, three ringleaders had been arrested, he said, and police would also investigate if any of them had been involved in the torture of the two women.

He assured they would be charged.