Murderer killed in Bomana jail fight

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The National, Tuesday 29th January, 2013

By JUNIOR UKAHA
A CONVICTED murderer was stabbed to death last Friday at the Bomana pri­son outside Port Moresby following a row between two groups of inmates.
Shane Aitsi, 36, from Bereina in the Kairiku area of Central and serving time for murder, was stabbed with a “Rambo knife” in the B wing of the main prison compound, according to police.
Those being questioned over the killing include two prisoners of Sepik origin and William Nanua Kapris, one of the accused in the high-profile BSP robbery at Kerema.
Correctional Service Commissioner Martin Balthazar said the fight started because of “diffe­rences” between the two groups.
“There was a fight between Aitsi’s boys and those loyal to Kapris,” he said yesterday.

“The fight occurred around 8am in the high-risk security block,” Balthazar  said.
The high-risk area holds around 400 prisoners from different parts of the country who commit serious crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery.
“The suspects used a 10-15cm dagger to stab Aitsi on his left chest. The weapon penetrated his heart, resulting in his death,” Balthazar  said.
He said fights among inmates were “pretty regular” in jails around the country and not unique to Bomana.
“They have groupings in the prison and tensions do exist,” he said.
Balthazar said prison fights occurred for various reasons and it was difficult to tell.
He said prisons in the United States, Europe and Australia experienced similar fights and things such as homosexuality existed.
Warders do their best to keep the peace.
He said it was not the first time a death had occurred in prison but could not provide statistics.
“I have no idea how the knives have been smuggled inside and it is something we will discuss and is the subject of an investigation,” he said.
He defended his officers at Bomana saying he could not blame them for the presence of the weapons in the prison compound until proper investigations had established how these weapons ended up inside the cells.
National Capital District police commander Peter Guinness said three daggers, including the murder weapon, were retrieved by police and Correctional Services officers after the killing.
“The matter was reported to police and the prisoners were isolated,” Guinness said.
“The prison was closed for visitation and investigators are closely monitoring the situation.
“Police homicide are currently investigating the killing.”
Guinness said the fight occurred at the C wing and while the attention of the guards was concentrated there, the trio reportedly attacked and killed Aitsi in the B wing.
Balthazar said a week ago, se­ven mobile phones were confiscated from prisoners by CS officers during a search.
Last week, a search at the Boram jail in Wewak by Deputy Commissioner (operations) Michael Waipo and his men confiscated a number of bush knives and mobile phones.

and other substances from prisoners there.
Waipo and his team also discovered that high-risk prisoners were leaving the prison boundaries at will and going to settlements to get drunk.
Waipo used his powers to transfer the inmates implicated to jails in the highlands and transferred the senior officers who failed to enforce the jail rules to other provinces.