No record of holdup on CCTV, says authority

CLOSED circuit television (CCTV) does not reveal any holdup on the day an alleged abduction and rape of a 15-year-old girl took place in Port Moresby, according to the Road Transport Authority.
Chief executive officer Nelson Terema clarified this in a meeting on Friday hosted by National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop and his senior officials and board members and Public Motor Vehicle Owners Association president Jack Waso, to get their cooperation.
“CCTV images have been checked and there is no image of a PMV being stopped at the freeway and criminals alighting from the PMV with the victim,” he said.
“No PMV owner, driver, crew or passengers, affected by the alleged incident, have come forward.
“We have checked all owners of PMVs and their drivers, including those on bus route 17, and not one owner, driver or crew have reported a holdup on that date. CCTV images from Burns Peak and the freeway also do not show any such incident.”
There has been public outcry over a 15-year-old girl’s alleged abduction in a PMV bus and then her horrific sexual assault in a secluded area in Hohola,
Parkop hosted the meeting to obtain cooperation from key stakeholders to identify the PMV that might have been involved.
He said they had been working with police under his instructions but there has been no evidence that a PMV was held up on that date and on that particular site or route.
Parkop acknowledged that the existing public transport system was in a mess.
He wants the stakeholders to think about the future to provide safe, efficient, affordable and reliable public transport in the city.
A number of immediate actions were agreed on the meeting. These are colour codes for routes, displaying identification of drivers, crew, contact numbers, licence numbers at the back of seats inside buses and impounding of unlicensed and unroadworthy buses.