IT was a day of emotions for two victims of Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV) who were finally reunited with their family in the Laiagam District of Enga Province on July 17, 2024. This comes four months after their brutal experience of torture and humiliation.
On March 18, 2024, the two women were falsely accused of sorcery and were tortured badly when a little boy fell ill due to contaminated food. One of the women was a mother of three and the other was an elderly woman with six grown up children. The unfortunate incident occurred at Lilyates village of the Waiap tribe near Laiagam station.
The mother of the three was with her little children at night when she was attacked. Her husband was in Porgera at that time, and no one was around to protect her and her children. Young men of the village dragged her out of the house tortured her mercilessly accusing her of sorcery.
The other woman was also accused when she returned that morning from the Lutheran church where she attends. If it was not for Fr. Newman Kingi, the parish priest of Wanepap Parish, the two women would have been burned to death.
Fr. Newman, upon hearing of the incident, quickly responded and came to their rescue. He pleaded with the perpetrators and brought the victims to Yampu Health Centre where they were carefully treated by the health workers and later moved to Sari Pastoral Centre where they received further care and counseling from the Catholic Church until their reintegration today.
Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wabag, His Excellency, Bp. Justin Ain Soongie took the lead with the reintegration. Upon handing over the victims back to the family and the Waiap tribe, Bp. Justin stressed that life is sacred, and no one has the right to take another person’s life regardless of whatever reason.
He further said, “Belief in sanguma or sorcery is a misconstrued belief and is not even part of our culture in Enga and we should all work together to get rid of this false belief that is destroying our families and communities”.
Those who were present included Fr. Emmanuel Dian and Fr. Newman Kingi; members of Caritas Enga; PNGDF personnel, Provincial and District Law and Order Officials headed by Mr. Anton Yogapen who issued a preventive order to the community not to accuse the victims again.
The Deputy District Administrator Mr. Tom Litapi was also present to witness the occasion. Many of them shared the same sentiments not to harbor the false belief of sanguma and encouraged the communities to live peacefully and to protect and promote life.
The leaders of Waiap tribe and the family members of the victims thanked the Catholic Diocese of Wabag and Caritas Enga for their generous assistance in caring for the two women and finally bringing them home after four months.
