19-year-old axed to death in tribal fight

A GRADE 11 student was axed to death and many of his clansmen were injured after Yakoman tribesmen raided the village in Mamis centre in the Wapenanmanda district last Sunday.
Provincial police commander Supt Michael Chare said the Yakoman clansmen raided the village after the villagers failed to hand over four suspects to the police who assaulted a policeman from the Yakoman clan in the Lower Lai area.
Supt Chare identified the deceased as Jacky Minakaso, 19, who was a student of  Kopen Secondary School.
This is the second time a high school student was killed this month.
On Feb 2, a Grade 10 student from Pilakambi High School was shot dead in Surinki by his enemy clansmen.
Supt Chare said Mr Minakaso was in his village when the Yakoman villagers launched the attack on Sunday morning, hitting his head with axes and bush knives.
“A full scale tribal fight was about to develop when police intervened and brought the situation under control,” he said.
Supt Chare said the villagers of Mamis centre assaulted a policeman from Yakoman last Thursday after a disagreement over compensation payment.
Supt Chare said the Yakoman villagers tried to pay some form of compensation after a small boy was run over by a vehicle driven by a policeman from the Yakoman clan early this year.
He said the court found that the driver was not at fault.
“Despite the court’s decision, the Yakoman tried to pay some compensation to the relatives of the deceased last Thursday but the Mamis centre people were not happy with the compensation and assaulted a policeman involved in the fatal road accident.”
Supt Chare said the Yakoman clansmen tried to retaliate but the policemen intervened and stopped the commotion and prevented it from developing into a tribal fight.
He said four suspects were expected to be handed over to the police this week and the people of Mamis centre demanded the Yakomen to hand over the people who killed the student.