Police keen to start sexual abuse unit

 By JAYNE SAFIHAO

POLICE want to set up a family and sexual violence unit in Madang because of the increase in sexual violence cases.

Provincial police commander Sylvester Kalaut said many cases of violence were reported at the stations.

“There are many cases being reported of sexual or domestic abuse and it seems that we will have to set up a separate office that will deal with all these matters,” he said.

The latest complaint was by a mother who had to wait at the station for a long time to register a case of domestic violence involving her daughter.

She had reported a domestic violence case at the Jomba station accompanied by her daughter who had wounds on her thighs and was sitting there bleeding. But the police officers ignored her condition saying that there was no vehicle to assist her.

The mother said the daughter’s husband was supposed to be arrested but was set free even after he damaged a wall at the station.

Kalaut sympathised with the mother and said the officers should have helped.

The mother, who did not want to be named, said that her daughter had been a victim of domestic abuse since 2003 and that enough was enough and she decided to report the matter.

“The police have recently announced their new look which is a lot of rubbish. How can you perform with your new look when you can’t get it right at the front counter?” she said.