Accusation of Sorcery Can Spark Death

This story occured In Samrong Tong district, Kampong Speu province where strong abstract belief has deep roots.

Un pak, 83, with his wife and stepson had moved to this village a month before his wife who was cruelly beheaded by neighboors living in the same village. His wife did not participate in pagoda ceremonies that's why many villagers began accusations that she had responsible for making villagers' bellies swell up and causing a few recent deaths.Several villagers had hired a fortuneteller from Kompong Speu Town to come to their village to find out what the problem was .Then the fortune teller said it was due to black magic.

One villager said his wife had some experience in black margic because she never came to pagoda , so we had to doubt her.Days later, a strange rumor still began spreading stronger and stronger like wildfire through this small village.His wife had been seen eating a live chicken,and her face and clothes stained with fresh blood. Finally , on the afternoon of July 4 , his wife was hacked to death with a machete while she was cooking in her house on the edge of the villag.

Un Pak said he foung his wife's corpse beneath the mat and her head connected to her neck by only a thin of flesh. No one expressed any sorrow about his wife's killing , he said. Only his stepson heldep him arrange the funeral , and none of his neighboors attended.

Immediately after his wife's burial , his neighboors moved to a new viilage about 200 meters away. Not only the neighboors but also his siter would no longer speak with him and walked in the former village.

According to the-above story, who shoud be brought to justice ??the villagers ?? what should be blamed on ?? - poor education, abstract belief , poor law, and poor governance ??

( Source: Cambodia Daily Newspaper )