Village row ends in cannibal attack

Original URL:

http://www.iol.co.za/html/frame_news.php?click_id=79&art_id=ct20010430092522783M200238

February 08 2000 at 06:59AM

Port Moresby - A village dispute in Papua New Guinea ended with a man tearing out the eyes, testicles and heart of another and eating them, police said on Tuesday.

"The villagers just watched in horror. The people are still in a state of shock," Police Superintendent Ben Simanjon said from the town of Madang.

Moropia Silkapi, 35, was chased into the bush by villagers and tied to a tree to await police. But before authorities reached the scene, the victim's relatives had arrived and killed him.

Cannibalism was widespread in this jungle-clad South Pacific nation until it was suppressed by British, German and Australian colonial authorities before independence in 1975.

News of the January 31 incident only reached Port Moresby on Tuesday. - Reuters