Body of girl, 13, found near home

THE body of a 13-year-old girl was found near her home after she had been missing for three days in Southern Highlands, police said.
Provincial police commander Gideon Kauke said the girl was missing after her elder sister and husband left her at home to go camping in the bush to make sago.
He said the grade 3 girl was from Pombrem village, Pimaga, in the Nipa-Kutubu district.
“The couple left the sago place and walked back to the village and started searching for her but there was no sign of her. The brother-in-law sensed a terrible smell from the nearby bushes and saw the body decomposing,” Kauke said.
He said police have a suspect after the deceased’s sister had passed a message to him to relay to her sister.
“The information is not clear yet but police suspect that the guy must have raped her and murdered her,” he said. The sister and brother-in-law waited for her but she did not turn up.