School boy becomes the latest victim of murder in Lae

A WAVE of crime has hit Lae in the past two weeks.
Women and old men are being attacked daily at bus stops in Top Town and the Lae Main Market by street youths at noon and between 5pm and 6pm.
At Top Town last Monday, a woman was upended and all her belongings stolen by young men pretending to hawk and peddle junk watches and cheap perfumes.
Yesterday at the main market two young women were stripped naked by two groups of men.
There was no police in sight and the public just stood and watched.
One of the nastiest was the killing of a school boy during the weekend.
The Grade Nine student at Bugandi Secondary School was taken captive last Friday night.
Parents, family, friends and police had searched the area, including a patch of grass near the Markham Road last Saturday.
Police also went onto neighbouring Three-Mile and demanded residents
to return the boy alive by 10 am on Monday.
His body was found near the site of a patch of grass that was combed.
He has been identified by his family as Daman Amon of Morobe and East Sepik parentage.
Relatives said he and two of his cousins were attacked at around 9pm near the Bugandi Estate where they were waiting for relatives who were finishing work late.
They said the trio were set upon by knife wielding assailants.
Amon hid behind some overgrown hibiscus but his two cousins were attacked, relatives said.
His cousins fought off the attackers and fled with knife wounds.
When Amon thought all was clear he reappeared and was taken by the assailants.
After recovering the body, the Two-Mile and Four Mile communities converged on a trade store at Three-Mile and set it alight.
Police are continuing investigations.