Arrested

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
POLICE have arrested an undisclosed number of people in relation to the gruesome torture and killing of a young woman accused of sorcery in Mt Hagen last Wednesday.
Assistant police commissioner Teddy Tei said the city would be combed for anyone remotely associated with the killing which has incited outrage both in the country and abroad.
The suspects were questioned yesterday as Tei called a sectional head meeting for a full briefing on the investigation.
Kepari Lanieta, 20, of Paial in Porgera district, Enga, was tortured and burnt alive by a group of men who accused her of the killing of a boy through sorcery.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, the US government through its embassy, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee and many other leaders have condemned the killing.

According to police yesterday afternoon, many suspects are still at large and police are hunting for them.
A police source said the police investigation unit was now interviewing the suspects and dealing with them.
Many witnesses at the scene of the crime have vo­lunteered information, the police said, making it possible for police to work around the clock to arrest those still at still at large.
Tei told media personnel yesterday morning the killing was a big issue and police would do their best to have all offenders arrested.
He said the story of the killing was on the internet and many international communities led by the American embassy, United Nations Human Rights office and others condemned the killing.
He said anyone who was not involved in the actual killing but who assisted would be also be arrested and charged.
O’Neill described the killing as “barbaric and inhuman” and directed the police minister to ensure police used all the resources and manpower to bring those responsible to justice.
The US government also called for a sustained international partnership to address this issue throughout Pacific, including through creation and enforcement of anti-gender base violence.