10 Feb 2009

PNG court gives 50-year jail term for sorcery-related killing

1:59 pm on 10 February 2009

A Papua New Guinea judge has jailed a man for 50 years over a sorcery killing.

The newspaper, The National, says a National Court judge imposed the sentence on 29-year-old Wilson Okore in Lae.

Okore and an accomplice, who is still at large, killed Jerry Kaiulo, a National Forest Service officer, while he was showering in February 2006 after a female colleague accused Mr Kaiulo of practising sorcery.

The judge told the court that Okore had said to police he thought it was alright for people to kill each other.

Police in the PNG highlands say there were at least 50 sorcery-related killings last year.