Lawrence Foana'ota, formerly the director of the Solomon Islands National Museum, said people were increasingly turning to witchcraft in the Melanesian country.
"The reason why it's growing is because there is some kind of economic benefits people are receiving from these practices," he told AFP before speaking at a conference in Canberra to tackle the issue.
Unless the problem was addressed quickly, especially amongst the young, "it might end up in the same situation as in Papua New Guinea where they are actually physically killing people", he said.
The woman was stripped, bound and burned before a crowd of onlookers including schoolchildren.
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In another attack in April, an elderly woman was beheaded after being accused of black magic.
The February murder helped push Papua New Guinea (PNG) to re-introduce the death penalty for violent crimes including sorcery, a move criticised by rights group Amnesty International and the United Nations.
Reverend Jack Urame, from the Melanesian Institute, said Christian organisations could do more to stamp out the widespread belief in sorcery in PNG, where many people do not accept natural causes as an explanation for misfortune and death.
"Because there is a generation gap, the Christian values is not being passed on to the next generation and so I think people are resorting back to the traditional belief as an answer to explain sickness and death."
Australian National University academic Miranda Forsyth, co-convenor of the conference in Canberra, said the belief in sorcery and witchcraft was widespread in countries such as Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.