Police ‘bashed me up’, says teacher

A PRIMARY school teacher in Port Moresby has claimed that he was assaulted by police after trying to discipline a student.
Mark Luther, from Wabag in Laiagam district, is a grade 6 teacher at the Saint Therese Catholic Primary school at Badili in Port Moresby.
On Thursday after lunch, the students were going back for afternoon class when one of them remained behind buying food at the market.
“It was 20 minutes into class time,” Luther said.
“I went and told the student to return to class. I accidently pushed him and his lunch fell.”
He said the student cried and ran off. On Friday, the family came with police and assaulted him.
“I was at the market when they chased me to the school gate and bashed me up,” he said.
Luther said they continued kicking him until they reached the station.
Badili police station commander Bill Werake denied Luther’s claims that he was assaulted by police.
“The family of the student bashed him up. And if the police are involved, I will look into the issue to confirm if the claims are true,” he said.
Werake said Luther had been charged with escaping from police custody and assault.
Weraka told The National that Luther was in police custody at the Badili police station.