Polye condemns rape of youth envoy

DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister for Works and Transport Don Polye has expressed disgust over the reported abduction and rape of a young female Australian youth envoy in Madang last weekend.
Polye described the incident as “very shameful for the country” and labelled the perpetrators as uncivilised and counter-productive individuals who do not deserve to co-habit society with the majority of peace-loving and law-abiding citizens of Madang and Papua New Guinea.
“These people go out of their way to help ordinary Papua New Guineans. And, is this how we treat them?
“It is a national disgrace,” Polye said.
“While I do not consider the death sentence as an acceptable mode of penal redress for serious crimes in the modern world, such heinous crimes seriously test my resistance to pursue its active enforcement in PNG,” he added.
He called on members of the community, where the crime was committed, to assist police in ensuring that the criminals were identified and brought to face the full force of the law.
“I plead with those who know the identities of the suspects, or have information that may lead to their arrest, to come forward to authorities on the ground and assist with investigations and arrests,” he said.
Polye also called for the harshest punishment allowed under PNG laws to be dished out to
the criminals.
The deputy prime minister commended the law and justice sector for its continued effort in reviewing and ensuring that penalties for such serious crimes were toughened to reflect the outright rejection and abhorrence of such acts by mainstream society.