Justice Kassman disappointed on the case of Kepari Leniata

Sorcery related violence is a matter of social concern

On Thursday, 4^th of November 2014, took place at the Waigani National Court in Port Moresby the third hearing regarding the case of Kepari Leniata, brutally tortured and murdered  accused of sorcery.

Kepari was publicly tortured and murdered in Mount Hagen on February 7, 2013, accused of killing a young boy by practising sorcery. Images of the horrific torture, witnessed by hundreds of people, spread all over the social networks, causing the national and international community to scream out loud about the ongoing issue of the sorcery and witchcraft accusations related violence. Since then, unfortunately, nobody has been held accountable yet.

Almost two years after the incident, Justice Stephen Kassman decided to open an inquiry to “enforce the rights of people provided for in the Constitution, including the late Leniata Kepari”. The judge expressed his disappointment on the lack of information gathered by the police umtil now. After all this time, there are no complainants and no witnesses, and little work has been done by the government to resolve the case and bring to justice the perpetrators of such a crime.

Justice Kassman urged the police to work harder on the case and suggested that if they do not have the means, they should ask for assistance in Papua New Guinea and, if necessary, internationally. The judge showed his indignation with strong words: “We are treating human beings like the carcase of an animal”. 

The hearing held in the capital intended to bring individuals and organisations to provide any useful information on the case that could help in the investigation. He claimed that a case like this is a matter of public concern, and this should be encouraging people to come forward. However, only two submissions were made.

Father Philip Gibbs, representing the Comission for Social Concerns of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, presented the first one. He briefly contextualised the “sanguma” (witchcraft) belief in the communities of the Highlands, explained why women are more vulnerable to this kind of accusations, and outlined the different reasons why the accusations might evolve in high levels of violence and torture. He made clear that the Catholic Church is taking a strong position against the belief in “sanguma” and, especially, against the violence arising from it. Father Gibbs explained the different actions that the Catholic Church is carrying out in order to counteract this kind of violence.

The second submission was presented by Alithia Barampataz representing the Committee Against Sorcery Accusation Related Violence in Papua New Guinea. The Committee, which is composed by civil society, some representatives of the Government and other key stakeholders, has been working hard for the last year and a half on developing an Action Plan that, once endorsed by the government, will be implemented at the national level. This submission emphasized the imperative need to investigate and prosecute this kind of crimes in order to show that the State is taking a strong stand in front of such human rights offences, ensure accountability of perpetrators and create effective responses. The Committee claimed that multiple State actors hold a responsibility on seeking justice and called all relevant agencies in the legal, health and education sectors to cooperate in the investigation and to committ themselves to fight against this kind of violence.

Justice Stephen Kassman will reconvene the court again in Mount Hagen sometime in March 2015, hoping that, by then, the different parties will have made good progress with the investigation.

Here you can watch a video on some legal responses that are taking place to fight sorcery related accusations in Papua New Guinea.

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