Suspect in Bautama killing appears in court

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday, June 8th 2011

A YOUNG man allegedly involved in the killing of four people, including a Grade 10 student of Mt Diamond Secondary School, in the Bautama area, in Central, two weeks ago, appeared before the Waigaini Committal Court yesterday.
Three of his alleged accomplices have yet to be formally charged.
Tom Francis, of Goilala, was charged with four counts of wilful murder and one count of attempted murder.
Police briefs say at 10.30pm on May 28, Francis and three others were in a CRV and drove by Bautama Bridge along  Magi Highway.
Two other youths, now deceased and identified as Seru Mara, 17, from Tari, Hela; and Davies Bare, 19, from Menyamya, Morobe, had their car stalled and were stranded.
Francis and his accomplices saw the two and decided to rob them but the two defended themselves and fought back.
In the process, the deceased, Mara, stabbed one of Francis’ accomplices on the abdomen with a knife.
In retaliation, another accomplice pulled out a factory-made pistol and shot Mara at point blank.
The other deceased, Bare, saw the killing and decided to flee. But he was run down and hacked on the forehead with an axe. He died instantly.
After the killing, Francis and his accomplices returned to the 6-Mile’s Goilala settlement and dropped off their accomplice who had been stabbed by one of the deceased.
They then loaded more people in the CRV and returned to Bautama, going into Madowate village and killing two others, the Grade 10 student, identified as Hahari Warite and a Koiari man identified as Mathew Isaac.
They then tried to kill a woman but failed.
These killings led to a rampage by Koiari and Motuan people which resulted in roadblocks and the burning down of houses.