Manus police arrest duo over assault of refugee

POLICE in Manus have arrested and charged two people after a refugee was assaulted.
The assault happened on June 25 in front of City Pharmacy in Lorengau town.
Manus police commander Chief Inspector David Yapu said the refugee, Adam Khrawa, 24, sustained injuries to his right eye and suffered a broken teeth.
The suspects were identified as Blaise Tuam, 36, a councillor at Levei ward in the Bisakani/Soparibeu local-level government area, and Gibson Benjamin, 46, of Bundrahi ward in the Pobuma LLG area.They have been charged with assault causing grievous bodily harm.
Both were each on a K500 police bail and were expected to appear in the Lorengau district court today.
Yapu again appealed to people in the community to respect refugees and not to cause harm or assault them so they could walk freely in town or in the community.
Meantime, Yapu said police were assisting the PNG Immigrations officers to enforce rules for refugees living at the East Lorengau Refugee Transit Centre at ward two and the 70-man camp at Hillside and 300-man camp at West Lorengau ward one.
He said this was to monitor the movement of refugees, especially at night, for their safety.
“There have been some incidents involving refugees at night and we do not want to see a repetition of such incidents,” Yapu said.
He was concerned about the movement of some refugees travelling to Madang, Wewak and Kavieng with locals to buy betel nuts.
“Who authorised those refugees to travel out from Manus?” Yapu said.
“What would happen if they encountered a sea ordeal and died? Who will be held responsible for them?
“We need to have some control mechanism on the movements of refugees for their own safety and security.”