A Canadian man's lynching by villagers was captured by a video on social media after he was accused of killing a Peruvian woman shaman.
Sebastian Paul Woodroffe, 41, was identified by the Peru interior ministry after his body was found buried near the home of Olivia Arevalo Lomas, 81, CTV reported.
Lomas, an indigenous traditional healer, was shot to death, and some villagers blamed Woodroffe.
"Canada extends its deepest condolences following the reported assassination of Olivia Arevalo Lomas, an Indigenous elder and human rights defender of the Shipibo-Conibo people in Peru's Ucayali region," a representative for Global Affairs Canada told CTV News. "We are also aware that a Canadian was killed in a related incident."
The Guardian reported that Lomas was shot twice and died on Thursday near her home in the village of Victoria Gracia in Peru's central Amazon region. Woodroffe lived in the region and was believed to be one of her patients.
Woodroffe was believed to have traveled to Peru from his home in Vancouver Island to learn how use traditional medicine to treat drug addictions. He reportedly raised more than $2,000 for his trip through the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, The Guardian said.
A camera phone recorded Woodroffe's lynching by villagers and the video was posted on social media, The Guardian reported.
The video showed a bloodied man crying as he laid in a puddle in front of a wooden home with a thatched roof. Two men then put a rope or rubber hose around his neck and dragged him along the ground until he went limp and fell silent as others looked on.
Ronald Suárez, president of the Shipibo Konibo and Xetebo council, said the men involved in the Woodroffe lynching "acted on the spur of the moment and resorted to traditional justice."
"But we are a peaceful people who have always lived in harmony with nature," Suarez said, per The Guardian. "We have little confidence in the police as, so often, crimes against us go unpunished."
The Guardian said, though, that Peruvian police are also exploring other theories as a possible motive. One was that Lomas' son owed money to Woodroffe and there was an unconfirmed report that her killer may have been a gang member looking to collect a debt from the son.
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