Woman had Samoan exorcism but died

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33958, 26 September 1975, Page 3

Woman had Samoan exorcism but died

(X.Z Press Association; WELLINGTON. September 25. A Samoan woman who thought she was; possessed by her grandmother’s evil spirit had an exorcism performed on her by a Samoan I medicine woman in Porirua, the Coroner’s! Court heard yesterday.

The Coronei (Mr U. D.i McGregor) was conducting i an inquest into the death of! Punaoupu Im Fuata, aged 24, i a housewife, who died on: June 20.

The Coroner found that she had died of acute tracheo-bronchitis with septicaemia.

It was a most unusual case, he said, where orthodox Western medical assistance had been obtained on the Wednesday before the woman’s death' but after an examination and head X-rays, nothing unusual had been found and she had been discharged.

“Mrs Fuata's condition worsened the next day, and in the early hours of Friday, June 20, the services of a Samoan healer were sought, and what was, in effect, an exorcism was started, to remove the evil spirits believed to be possessing the deceased.

“She was subsequently bathed, and soon died,” the Coroner said. CAUSE OF DEATH

The autopsy established the cause of death as acute rracheo-bronchitis with septicaemia, one of the less common bacterial infections. The symptoms shown by the deceased on Wednesday, June 18, were the earliest signs of this infection. In the pathologist’s view, if the deceased had seen orthodox medical treatment again on the Thursday, the outcome might have been different. "But who knows for certain?” the Coronet said. •

“It is a pity this family I did not seek’ the assistance of their regular doctor on the Thursday,” he said. *“They did, in fact, have such a doctor who had cared for the family over the years. “In my view, their reluctance to do so, and their decision to seek exorcism instead. was understandable. It was done in good faith; and the exorcism. Samoan treatment, and bathing were not the cause of death.” BROTHER’S EVIDENCE

The deceased’s brother, ISefo Aogamalie, a bus i driver, said that on the ; evening of June 18 he went to his sister’s home after ishe had telephoned to say ishe was sick, but found she 'had gone to hospital by ambulance. He saw. her at the ‘hospital, where she was j behaving in an abnormal 'way and talking in a strange manner.

His sister had complained of severe headaches, but after two head X-rays she had been discharged from the hospital at 10 p.m. and told there was nothing wrong.

The next day, she talked strangely. On Thursday, ■June 19, Mrs Fuata awoke at 3 a.m. in a very agitated state, and said she’ was possessed by her grandmother’s evil spirit. On Friday, June 20, at 1 a.m., witness and Mr Fuata took her to the home of a Samoan medicine ;woman in Porirua. The medicine woman, Mrs Tinamoni Tolotea Pau’u, treated the deceased by rubbing her, Mrs Fuata began talking in her grandmother’s igvoice, “who said she ha come to cure my sister of the evil spirit.” About 5 a.m., the evil spirit and pain had gone. Mrs Fuata stopped talking in the strange manner, but started to talk about religion. Mrs Pau’u said it was the custom to bathe a person after the spirit left, and so they bathed her for half an hour.

“Before 5 a.m., my grandmother’s ’spirit had told my

sister she was going to die. That was said by my sister, but not in her voice,” witness said. MENTAL ILLNESS

“She could not move, so we had to carry her through to the lounge,” witness said. “For five minutes she lay still, then for 20 minutes her breathing grew deeper

“We called an ambulance, but before it arrived she had died.” Before June 18. said Mr Aogamalie, Mrs Fuata had never complained of evil spirits in her body. She had been in New Zealand four years. All his family had a history of mental illness.

Mrs Pau’u, aged 36, a kit-; chen assistant at Porirua Hospital, said she had been practising Samoan medical treatment for about 11 years.

She did not operate on patients possessed by evil spirits, but was a disease ’treater, using Samoan hair oil and leaves from a tropical tree to cure her patients. Most of her cases had been successful, but some had failed.

“I am not an evil spirit healer, but I would operate if a patient with a headache complained she was possessed by ap evil spirit, as this is along my line of experience,” Mrs Pau’u said. TREATMENT DESCRIBED

She described rubbing the deceased’s face for an hour with the crushed leaf, diluted in cold water, while the deceased kept yelling and screaming in a continuous, violent manner. She was given a lukewarm bath, with shampoo added, for about half an hour, buf had to be forced out of the bath as she insisted 'on remaining in it. Mrs Fuata was taken to the sitting room, dried, clothed, and lain down again. She was quieter then, turning her head from side to side for half an hour. “Before she died, I told her cousin to call the ambulance, but I thought it was no use,” Mrs Pau’u said.