Claim about girl’s rape in bus may not be true: Association

By PHOEBE GWANGILO
The president of the Public Motor Vehicle Owners Association in Port Moresby claims that the alleged abduction of a 15-year-old girl in a PMV bus may not be true.
Jack Waso was commenting on the recent media reports of the alleged abduction and rape of a 15-year-old girl who was on her way to Gordon to send money to her mother through a relative.
The victim was allegedly forced to stay on a bus outside Central Waigani Stop & Shop bus stop after a group of men got inside and directed the bus to Burns Peak, Hohola.
Waso said the bus stop where the abduction and commandeering of the bus by the group was “too public to go unnoticed”.
He said he condemned the rape and mistreatment of women and wanted all citizens, especially women, to move freely and feel safe.
“We have not received any police reports as yet confirming the incident, I’m only reading in the paper about that,” he said. “No eye witnesses have come forward yet.
“I am not sure whether she was abducted in the PMV bus at the said location to Hohola where she was raped or not, that I don’t know.”
Road Transport Authority chief executive officer Nelson Terema clarified last Friday that closed circuit television (CCTV) footage of the said bus stop showed no abduction happening.
“CCTV images on the freeway have been checked and there is no image of a PMV being stopped at the freeway and criminals alighting from the PMV with the victim,” he said.
“No PMV owner, driver, crew or passengers, affected by the alleged incident, have come forward,”
“We have checked all owners of PMVs and their drivers, including those on bus route 17, and not one owner, driver or crew has reported a holdup on that date.
“CCTV images from Burns Peak and the freeway also do not show any such incident.”