Vanuatu MP defends vigilante killings

Transcript

A Vanuatu opposition MP who believes in 'black magic' is defending the vigilante killings of two people accused of using black magic.

Willie Jimmy says if he is in Government again he will push for legislation to punish those who practise black magic and protect those who want to fight the practise.

His comments follow the arrest of a group of church pastors and custom chiefs in Malekula for allegedly ordering the hanging of two men who they claimed were practising black magic.

The police have described the killings as brutal and unlawful. Mr Jimmy is defending the killings, telling Amelia Langford he believes black magic is getting out of control.

WILLIE JIMMY: I believe, I believe in black magic, I believe that black magic works, and it's getting out of control now. It's getting out of control because of a lot of things, because of land issues especially, land issues is causing a lot of death through practice of black magic.

AMELIA LANGFORD: So how would you describe black magic, how does that manifest itself?

WJ: I can only describe it like, black magic like a hurricane, like a wind. You cannot see it, you cannot touch it, you cannot feel it but when it's gone you see the effect is there so I cannot really describe the way you would want me to, but black magic works just like a devil, they come to you and you not knowing that they are there but they are there.

AL: So if you ever go back into government you would like to push for a law for the death penalty to stop people practicing black magic.

WJ: I think you know it would just be a protection against those who practice black magic.

AL: The death penalty, that's very extreme isn't it, how do you justify that?

WJ: I don't think that it's extreme because in the past our chiefs have different ways how they punish people when they do things wrong in the villlage. Like for us in my province our chiefs do give penalties for people who do wrong things in the village. So they buried them alive, it's practiced before so it's not a new thing, it's a tradition that was there before but when Christianity and civilian laws came in then we abandoned them but now it's getting worse, maybe it's better we go back to where we were before.

AL: I guess the risk is that innocent people could be punished, does that worry you?

WJ: I don't think so because if any person that has the characteristics of practicing black magic, it's public knowledge in Vanuatu because we know 'this guy is very dangerous, don't go close to him, or don't associate yourself with him or her' so these kind of people are already classified and are already well known in the village, like what happened in Malekula.

AL: Yes, now with Malekula, two men were hanged weren't they because they were accused of killing people through black magic. What do you think about that situation?

WJ: In the long run it's good for the people of the village, it's good for the people of that area because they will now walk around freely without being intimidated by somebody through the use of black magic.