Land row leads to killings

The National Main Stories

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
AT least five people died, others wounded and hundreds of families forced to flee their homes after a land row between two cousins developed into a violent confrontation in Tari-Pori, Hela.
Hela police commander Chief Insp Teddy Agwi said homes were also burnt on Wednesday in the Tagali local level government before fighting spilled over to Pinagia and Mulubi in the Tebi local level government.
“The fighting displaced (hundreds of) families who have now moved out from the area and are seeking shelter elsewhere,” Agwi said.
Tari-Pori MP James Marape, the Prime Minister, will be visiting Jiwaka today but it could not be confirmed last night if he will later visit his district.
Agwi told The National that the fighting began after two cousins, two weeks ago, had a row over a piece of land in Tagali.
“One picked up a homemade gun and shot the other killing him instantly,” he said.
“The (deceased cousin’s) family went into mourning and buried him on the disputed land.”
During the haus krai, the suspect came back shot the younger brother of his deceased cousin.
“The shooting angered those who were in the area and a fight broke out,” Agwi said.
“Two men, a woman and a child were killed.”
Police and soldiers went to the area to defuse the tension.
They were trying to bring out the deceased woman and the child when their vehicles ended up in a drain along the road.
“We spent another couple of hours (salvaging) the vehicles and left Tagali at 11pm on Wednesday,” Agwi said.
“We returned to Tari just after midnight and took the bodies to the Tari hospital morgue.”
The National later received unconfirmed reports that another woman and four men were killed bringing to 10 those killed during the two days.
Another man was reportedly shot and taken to the Tari Hospital.

6 comments

  • Land laws and ownership should be dealt with seriously, registration and recognition must be known

  • And so it goes on and on and on. is it any wander the rest of the civilized world shakes there head in disbelief when they read this is still going on in PNG.
    Nothing has changed in the highlands for centuries and never will whilst these people think they are above the law, the worse part is they bring this crap down to the coast and continue it with impunity as they believe they are untouchable.

  • So this is ‘Christian Nation’ known as Papua New Guinea. Yep as it was centuries ago it still is today except with more sophisticated means of ‘settling’ disputes in the highlands. Well done PNG you really have progressed!

  • Neville it only happening in Hela. Its simply boils down to compromised leadership at all levels. The leaders are to be blamed for all this killings, they cant man up and contain their own people like the rest of the highlands leaders are doing, instead, they allow their emotions to get the better of them and are influenced by minority culprits amongst the people they are mandated to lead.
    Now they will expect the government to step in and clean up their mess. What a shame.

  • So right in Tari-Pori.

    If there is strong political leadership there such killings would be not repeated.

    Something is so wrong.

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