Four shot dead

By MELYNE BAROI and ELIAS LARI
VIOLENCE has left four people dead in two separate incidents in Milne Bay and Jiwaka over the past week.
In Milne Bay’s Alotau on Tuesday, five of 11 prisoners escorted by three policemen in a 10-seater to the Alotau district court from Giligili prison, allegedly attacked the guards. Three prisoners were shot dead, three others were injured and all three policemen were hospitalised with head and neck injuries.
In Jiwaka’s Jimi, an elderly man was shot dead and 700 villagers were made homeless last week in a General Election 2022 (GE22)-related violence.
Police in Alotau are on the lookout for five escapees who allegedly took a pump-action pistol from police officers while travelling in a 10-seater, provincial commander Peter Barkie said.
The incident happened at about 10am when they approached the faulty single-lane Border Bridge and slowed down.
“The wait-court inmates attacked the policemen with forks, spoons and knives that had their ends sharpened enough to penetrate a human body,” Barkie said.
“Upon attack, the driver stopped the vehicle and tried to fight off the others who had attacked from behind,” he said.
They escaped into the bush.
Barkie said of the six who did not make it out of the vehicle, three were killed in action and three others severely wounded.
“The driver had managed to fight off the men and retrieved an M-16 rifle which he used to defend himself and his fellow officers with,” he said.
Barkie said that the bodies taken to the hospital could not go through post-mortem as the morgues were full.
“The bodies have been checked thoroughly by the doctors and an estimated cause of deaths as well.”
According to the Giligili Correctional Service, nine of the 11 remandees were waiting for their armed robbery cases.
They included the five at large.
They are Joe Magilosi, 26, Richard Deboboi, 27, Stanley Charley, 25, Reuben John, 21 and Kingsford Dedeba, 26.
A juvenile was among the nine who sustained injuries and one of his legs had to be amputated, Barkie said.
The dead are Mamali Daniel (attempted rape), 50, Rex Samoa (persistent sexual abuse), 24, and Alphonse Haure (armed robbery), 20.
Barkie said the incident showed some areas of weaknesses in the Milne Bay police and Correctional Service.
Meanwhile in Jimi, an elderly man was shot dead and more than 700 people allegedly fled their villages as their homes and properties were burnt down last week, community leaders said.
The deceased was Johnson Wii, 60, a leader of the Galeboka clan at Tabibuga, Jimi.
The incident took place at the Tabibuga government station.
The people affected are from the Baura and Dapaka villages surrounding Jimi headquarters at Tabibuga along the Jimi Valley.
Locals said frustrated supporters and clansmen of a candidate for the Jimi Open seat had instigated the trouble following the declaration.
A leader from an affected village, Peter Kopa, said people continued to live in fear as there was no control over law and order.
“We are appealing to our leaders, Jimi MP Wake Goi, Governor Simon Kaiwe, Police Commissioner David Manning and Jiwaka police to declare a state of emergency in Tabibuga,” he said.