Indonesian man beheads father he feared was about to cast spell
- The man then got on a motorbike and paraded the decapitated head around the village
- While Islam is the dominant religion in the country, believing in black magic is common in rural areas and accusations can prove fatal
He then got on a motorbike and paraded his father’s decapitated head around the village, local media reported on Tuesday.
The man, 37, was arrested in the district of Sendang Agung, Central Lampung, on Sumatra island and is being held at a psychiatric hospital. Local media are referring to him with the initials KPW.
He had reportedly visited his father on Monday to apologise over an earlier disagreement, when suddenly he became enraged and attacked.
“He felt vengeful towards his father because he felt his father was going to cast a spell on him, that his father would kill him using witchcraft,” Central Lampung police detective Edi Qorinas told CNNIndonesia.
The man’s family told police he often talked to himself and they suspected he was mentally ill.