Mother of two charged with nephew’s murder

By DOROTHY MARK
A 40-year-old mother of two is in custody at Buimo jail in Lae, charged with the murder of her three-year-old nephew in 2014.
Lae CID officer Senior Inspector Allen Pinia said Olivia Kedoga from Manus was charged with one count of murder after she was arrested last week.
She appeared before the Lae District Court last Friday and was sent to Buimo to await trial.
Kedoga was alleged to have killed the boy who was her Milne Bay husband’s relative.
Police investigations into the matter took two years to complete and revealed that the boy died from several beatings he received from Kedoga.
The boy’s father Alphonse Gumakeli, a staff of Madang Resort Hotel, said his son was supposed to spend a few weeks’ holiday in Lae around June 2014 with the accused and his cousin brother but the holiday dragged on when the accused continued to give reasons to delay the boy’s return.
Gumakeli said the reason the suspect and her husband delayed their trip was because his son was being beaten continuously and had marks on his body and the couple did not want the parents in Madang to see them and ask questions.
He said he was told that his son died of asthma at Angau Hospital on Nov 13, 2014.
Gumakeli said the couple’s neighbours in Lae called him and advised him to do a post-mortem to find the real cause of his son’s death because they had witnessed the abuse the boy received and sympathised with him.
“When we conducted the post-mortem, I tell you, my son was really abused by the woman,” he said.
“My three-year-old son was still a baby but he had several broom marks on his skin, he had a wound below his right eye, a broken ankle and deep cuts on his head.”
Gumakeli said the investigation was slow since he was working in Madang and couldn’t push the matter but was now satisfied that Kedoga was finally arrested so he would get justice for his son.
Gumakeli advised parents not to have complete trust in other people to leave children in their care.
Kedoga has been advised to speak to her lawyer to apply for bail.