Cambodian mob beats alleged sorcerer to death
A Cambodian man accused of sorcery was beaten and stoned to death by a mob of about 600 in his village in the southern province of Takeo.
Villagers accused 36-year-old traditional healer Pov Savann of using black magic to kill seven elderly local people, and on Sunday set on him at his home with sticks, clubs and rocks, The Cambodia Daily newspaper reported.
Pov Savann died in the six-hour assault as the initial mob was joined by hundreds of people from neighbouring communities.
“My police could not do anything because there were many people who carried stones and clubs and were very violent,” local police chief Khut Lo was quoted as saying.
An ambulance coming to the aid of the victim was turned back by the mob. The people in the village who died, though elderly, had not been diagnosed with any disease, Lo said.
“The villagers believed that they died because of the sorcerer.”
