Even if there was global condemnation of the burning of a woman in Papua New Guinea over accusations of sorcery, mob rule continues to reign supreme in the Pacific island. Reports on Monday said that another woman was killed last week in South Bougainville for allegedly practicing sorcery.

The victim, identified as school teacher Helen Rumbali, was beheaded on Thursday evening in Lopele village. She and another woman were initially question and tortured for three days by their captors after they were forcibly taken from nearby Tandorima.

The mob charged the two elderly women of using sorcery that allegedly caused the death of another teacher. The other woman managed to escape and is now hiding in a nearby medical centre.

Paul Kamuai, acting provincial police commander, said he and other officers tried to stop the crowd as early as Wednesday, but they were blocked with rifles and bush knives.

Reports said that the adult son of Ms Rumbali left the area after three homes near where he works were razed to the ground. The relatives of the two women also fled the place, while police had evacuated their other kin.

Mr Kamuai said Ms Rumbali's family well-off and the police did not rule out jealousy as the motive behind the beheading. Other studies suggested that the violence on older women, disguised as a witch hunt, were actually attempts to grab the land of these females.

Several weeks ago, Papua New Guinea created headlines for the burning at stake of a 20-year-old woman accused of killing a boy through sorcery.

Despite the presence of women crisis centres in the island, the violence against women in Papua continues.