Baruni shooting status unknown

NCD Metropolitan Chief Supt Joseph Tondop said he is still unaware of the status of the investigation into the shooting and wounding of an elderly woman at Baruni village outside Port Moresby last month.
Tondop said that his men involved in the investigation had yet to formally brief him about the progress of the investigation and what they were doing to rectify the situation.
When The National enquired yesterday as to whether a senior policeman involved in the shooting was investigated, Tondop said the concerned officer was already investigated and had given the investigators his side of the story.
“I cannot say anything about the progress of the investigation as I have yet to get a formal report from my officers conducting the investigation,” Tondop said.
He said police had on numerous occasions called upon the victim Pei Nou and her family, including eyewitnesses, to come forward with information to help fast-track their investigations but they received no positive response from the villagers.
He admitted that it was a normal police process and that the police Internal Investigation Unit (IIU) was taking care of the matter.
However, a relative of the victim, who requested anonymity, said that the villagers were concerned that the investigation into the shooting of their clanswoman was progressing at snail’s pace and, like other forgotten cases, it might die a natural death.
The relative appealed to Tondop to order his men to speed up the case so that justice could be seen done to the victim and her family and many other people who became victims of police brutality and had cases that were “forever pending” with the IIU.