Elderly shaman who burned niece alive in ‘exorcism’ faces murder charge
Published By admin with Comments 0
A shaman in her 70s who brutally killed her niece by burning the younger woman when she tried to stop working for her aunt has been indicted on murder charges.
The Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office said Tuesday it indicted four people, including the shaman, in custody last month on charges of murder and one person without detention, according to the legal community.
The shaman is accused of killing her niece, a woman in her 30s in a horrific crime that involved burning charcoal at a restaurant in Bupyeong District, Incheon, in mid-Sept. last year.
When the niece tried to quit working at the shaman’s establishment and leave, the shaman planned the crime, claiming she needed to “drive out an evil spirit,” investigators found.
The shaman allegedly summoned relatives and followers, tied the woman to a metal structure, and exposed her body to charcoal heat for 3 hours.
The woman, who cried out in pain, eventually lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital that day, but died the next day from multiple organ failure caused by the burns she suffered.
The shaman had long exerted psychological control over her followers by claiming that rituals and offerings could solve real-world problems, according to prosecutors.
Police initially referred the case on charges of death by bodily injury, but prosecutors concluded murder charges were appropriate after further investigation and changed the charge before indictment.
“It is appropriate to apply the murder charge,” a prosecution official said. “We cannot disclose further details.”
Content retrieved from: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-05-20/national/socialAffairs/Elderly-shaman-who-burned-niece-alive-in-exorcism-faces-murder-charge/2311503.
