On this date in 2013, villagers at the Papua New Guinea village of Paiala tortured their neighbor Kepari Leniata into confessing the witchcraft murder of a local child, then burnt her alive in a trash dump. Sorcery is widely feared and practiced in PNG.

Kepari Leniata, 20, ‘confessed’ after she was dragged from her hut, stripped naked and tortured with white-hot iron rods.

She was then dragged to a local rubbish dump, doused in petrol and, with hands and feet bound, thrown on a fire of burning tyres. As the mother-of-two screamed in agony, more petrol-soaked tyres were thrown on top of her.

…

The tragedy unfolded after Miss Leniata’s young neighbour fell sick on Tuesday morning. He complained of pains in the stomach and chest and was taken to Mt Hagen hospital where he died a few hours later.

Relatives of the boy were suspicious that witchcraft was involved in the death and learned that two women had gone into hiding in the jungle.

After they were tracked down, the pair admitted they practised sorcery but had nothing to do with the boy’s death. Miss Leniata, they said, was the person responsible.

The boy’s family went to her hut at 7am on Wednesday, stripped her and dragged her away to torture and death. (Source)

Horrific pictures circulated in the international media.

On this day..

• 1927: Mateo Correa Magallanes
• 1952: Alfred Moore
• 1967: Sunny Ang, a murderer without a body
• 1557: Martin Bucer and Paulus Phagius, already in their coffins
• 1528: Ambrosius Spittelmayr
• Themed Set: Anabaptists
• 1481: Diego Suson, by his daughter's hand
• 1997: Michael Carl George
• 1839: Amos Perley and Joshua Doane, for the Upper Canada Rebellion
• 1821: Owen Coffin, main course
• 1885: George Gibson and Wayne Powers
• 1945: Robert Brasillach, intellectual traitor
• 1615: Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney