[bloodrayne]

Court jails corpse-cannibal

AN Indonesian court sentenced a man to five years in jail for digging up the corpse of his 80-year-old female neighbour and eating parts of the body, court officials said.

Sumanto, 30, was found guilty of stealing and digging up a grave, said Tono, a court official in the central Javanese town of Purbalingga, about 400km south-east of Jakarta.

The 30-year-old, who was arrested early this year in Purbalingga, was judged to be sane, Tono said.

Officers found parts of a female corpse buried behind his house, while other parts of the body, which had only been in the ground for one day, were arranged on a dinner plate.

Sumanto told police at the time that he believed eating the flesh would give him supernatural powers.

His lawyers said they would appeal against the verdict.