Father bites toddler
The National, Tuesday October 15th, 2013
By JUNIOR UKAHA
A FATHER alleged to have bitten a chunk out of his child’s neck and drunk her blood could be “mentally unstable”, Lae police say.
The horror attack took place last Wednesday, resulting in the three-year old toddler’s death, and left Lae residents in shock.
Police are waiting for a psychiatric report before deciding whether to charge the man.
Lae police operations commander Insp Fred Kaiwa said yesterday that the man was a former student of Bugandi Secondary School and was an alleged member of a student cult group.
“We (police) have been told that because of his involvement in the cult practice, he was mentally affected and left school,” Kaiwa said.
He said the man had yet to be charged as police wanted to confirm his mental status before pressing a charge.
Kaiwa said the man was not under the influence of marijuana or alcohol when he bit the child.
Police believe his involvement in “satanic” cult activities during his school days may have had something to do with his action.
Police said around 4pm last Wednesday, the man took the child from his wife at their Arnotts Compound home at Hunter and jumped the fence to go into nearby bushes where he bit the girl.
He was spotted by boys from the neighbourhood, who alerted the public, resulting in his apprehension by police who arrived later.
“I have instructed my officer in charge of CID (Criminal Investigation Division) to check with the psychiatric centre at Angau (Memorial Hospital) and report the man’s condition to me,” Kaiwa said.
He said full details might be released later.
The body of the child is at the Angau Memorial Hospital morgue.
The man is from Finschhafen on the northern coast of Morobe.