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A 70-YEAR-OLD Indonesian woman has been hacked to death in the remote east of the country by machete-wielding men who suspected her of performing witchcraft, police said.
Three men attacked Nuryan Umanahu early on Sunday in the village of Buya, in the Sula Islands, after one of them became suspicious she had cast a spell on his wife.
“While she was sick, the wife often felt possessed and said that the old woman had cast a spell on her,” local police official Arifin La Ode Buri told AFP.
“Her husband believed this and took his friends to search for the old woman.”
The husband was accompanied by a large mob of villagers to the old lady’s house, but only three went inside and carried out the killing, said Buri.
Three men have been arrested on suspicion of murder, he added.
Many people still believe in black magic in Muslim-majority Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of more than 17,000 islands inhabited by a kaleidoscope of different ethnic groups.
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As a species we still have very far to go.
Paige, put the axe down and then we’ll talk
Like flying to an other galaxy…. That’s really far for our species to go. I dont think you should take the axe tho it will make us look crazy and backwards if we meet aliens.
Women wielding axe says we’ve further to go.
Having lived in this part of the world for 2 years I can only say….you haven’t seen half of it.
Does that news flash surprise me?
No it doesn’t.
That means we’ve still got a ways to go !
Uneducated morons believe in witches!
While here in Ireland we have a lot of educated/indoctrinated people who believe in angels and other such nonsense!!
@Prounsias – I know many supposed educated people who believe we came from monkeys and that everything came from nothing.
She was probably a burden and they needed to get rid of her. There’s always an anterior motive and witchcraft was the blamed. It’s usually always women who are murdered too.
Yes with other women pointing the finger. Let’s not make this act of primeval ignorant savagery about gender. Plenty blame to go around here.
Don’t forget the moving statues , http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/crowds-still-flock-to-moving-statue-site-at-ballinspittle-three-decades-on-343777.html
We actually do have “educated” professionals who label strong women as witches here in Ireland.
Some social workers and judges believe in witches in Navan/Trim.
In Liverpool 2009 3 women were deemed witches and the judge explained HER reasons – these women have the strength of 10,000 men – so they are witches.
So educated does not really mean anything
Big difference between moving statues and hacking someone to death. Do you see the difference or are you just mental?
Proinsias. Witchcraft is still on the statute books in Northern Ireland as an indictable offence. An attempt was made to remove it a few years back but was blocked by the DUP.
Read a book
Animals just like those that murdered Micky Harts daughter and got away with it ;(
Wrong euphemism. Animals are noble, savages is the term as only humans are capable of such mindless cruelty
What an odd case to pick as a comparison. Michaela Macareavy was killed while honeymooning in Mauritius, apparently as a result of a burglary gone wrong.
This is about an elderly woman who was set upon by a superstitious mob in Indonesia.
I’m just wondering: of all the crimes in human history to compare it to, why did you pick that one?
I fail to see how that is related to this case at all
I heard Enda Kenny is a witch???
Best comment ever?
There’s always one…
Savages
No
At least nobody can say they are soft on crime.
I thought that was Mauritius.
I might bring the wife over for holiday☺
@The Dude. What church does you belong too out of curiosity and are you north American ? How do you answer the fact that the Catholic Church who know the Bible, Koran and Torah infinitely more than you do and they accept evolution and the Big Bang Theory ?
Thats a khukri not a machete
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