Dad condemned over incest amid calls for stiff measures

National, Normal

A SENIOR public servant working with the Western Highlands provincial administration has described the case of the father who fathered his daughter’s three children in the province as “unbelievable” and “inhuman”.
The official, who requested anonymity, expressed disgust over the man’s actions, saying they were “animalistic” and the man, John Jack Pep, did not deserve to be a father.
The official was reacting to yesterday’s front page report in The National, about a father from Kimininga village outside Mt Hagen who was sentenced to six years in prison for committing incest with his own daughter.
A source said the children needed proper care and protection from their parents and did not deserve to be victims of abuse from anybody.
Any form of abuse against an innocent child would not help him or her to become a good citizen in the long run and such action should not be tolerated in today’s society, the official said, adding that the punishment was insufficient.
Another official from the Department of Community Development in Port Moresby, who also wished not to be named, said yesterday that a new law would hopefully come into force by the end of this year that would deal with such cases.
The official said it would be called the Lukautim Pikinini Act, but it had not yet been gazetted in the National Gazette.
The official said there was a law in place to deal with such matters which was introduced in 1963, but it was not being applied now.
The official also claimed that the new Lukautim Pikinini Act would also take into account the Child Rights Convention as amended in 1993.