August 9, 2018
Jakarta: In a horrifying case, police in Indonesia rescued a 28-year-old woman who was held captive in a cave for 15 years by a shaman. The woman, identified only as HS, was found in a crevice near Galumpang village in Central Sulawesi, reported Jakarta Post.
She was discovered after the local police received information that she was held captive in a cave by an 83-year-old shaman.
“We found the victim in a gap between rocks,” Tolitoli Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Iqbal Alqudusy was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post. Jago sexually assaulted HS continuously under the pretense of magic or witchcraft, reported CNN citing a police statement.
He would show her a photo of a man named Amrin, who he claimed was a jin, or genie. During sex, Amrin would then appear or enter Jago’s body, Jago told H, police said. Police said that the woman’s family had brought her to the shaman for treatment in 2003 when she was 13 years old.
Jago was well-known in the area for his alternative medicines and “magical” healing.
A village resident alleged that Jago had tricked the woman by promising to her to a jin.
National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) commissioner Magdalena Sitorus said there could be more victims. “Since the perpetrator was well-respected in the village, there is a possibility that there are other victims that have not yet come forward because they are afraid,” she told Jakarta Post.
“The victim should be brought to a hospital for psychological and reproductive health examinations,” she added. “Who knows what kind of changes 15 years have brought her.”