Shaman's house set ablaze

MEDAN, North Sumatra: The house of a notorious shaman who allegedly killed 42 women was set ablaze early Friday morning by a group of unidentified people, only a day after police conducted a reconstruction of the crime.

Security officers and locals helped extinguish the fire before it spread, the Kompas daily reported yesterday.

Police believed the arson to be the work of relatives of the victims.

The daily quoted a source as saying that a number of people who witnessed the reconstruction shouted suggestions that the shaman, known as Datuk, be "finished off".

Others hurled stones and bottles at him.

Other residents at the shaman's village of Dusun Aman Damai in Deli Serdang regency have expressed a similar wish to see his house burned down and that he be given the death sentence.

Datuk, who claimed to have killed 42 women to strengthen his healing magical power, has been under police detention after a father reported to police his daughter disappeared since she went to the shaman's house for treatment. Police believed that Datuk, who is married to three sisters, was a serial killer they have been hunting since 1990.

Police have since unearthed 42 skeletons and remains of the victims. (11)