Papua witch hunts led to a mob carrying guns, machetes and axes to attack and burn a wooden house at night. The mob grabbed Helen Rumbali and three female members of her family and tortured them for the crime of witchcraft.

The Papua witch hunts left the women slashed with knives. After negotiations with the police, the mob released Rumbali's older sister and her two teenage nieces. Rumbali was beheaded.

The attackers said they had proof that Rumbali, a former teacher in her forties, used sorcery to kill a villager who had died of illness. The assailants say there were marks of black magic on the villager’s grave and a swarm of flies led the witch hunter’s to Rumbali’s home.

Witch hunt violence is on the rise in Papua New Guinea. The tribal society is a diverse mix of 7 million people who speak in a mix of over 800 languages. Most people in the area are farmers. Experts say it looks like witch hunting is spreading to parts of the country where such attacks have never happened before.

Experts have no explanation for the rise in killings in the nation in the South Pacific nation Government officials are unable to explain why incidents are rising. They say the recent violience is due to economic jealousy rather than nation's widespread belief in black magic.

Helen Hakena, chairwoman of the North Bougainville Human Rights Committee, said said the witchcraft accusation against Rumbali was just an excuse. "Jealousy is causing a lot of hatred. People who are so jealous of those who are doing well in life, they resort to what our people believe in, sorcery, to kill them, to stop them continuing their own development. That was definitely a case of jealousy because her family is really quite well off."

Hakena said villagers were jealous because Rumbali's husband and son had government jobs, a permanent house made of wood, and that the family had a good education and high social standing.

There are hundreds of documented cases of witchcraft-related violence in Papua New Guinea and more cases that go unreported in more remote areas, according to the United Nations. Papua New Guinea’s 42-year-old Sorcery Act allowed the belief in black magic to be used as a partial legal defense for killing someone suspected of inflicting harm through sorcery until last month. The government repealed the law in because of the recent violence.

Miranda Forsyth, a lawyer at Australian National University who has studied the issue, said, "There's no doubt that there are really genuine beliefs there and in some circumstances that is what is motivating people: the belief that if they don't kill this person, then this person is going to continue to bring death and misfortune and sickness on their village." But recent cases appear to be a pretext for poorer neighbors to attack the wealthy and get away with it.