Thugs ambush bus, rape nurse

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
TWO gunmen ambushed a hospital drop-off bus and took turns to rape a nurse in Mutuyuwa village at the edge of Alotau town on April 11, acting Southern commander Chief Supt Rigga Neggi says.
“The bus driver had dropped off a health officer at 11pm in a village and was driving away with the remaining passenger (nurse) when a gunman flashed a torchlight and temporary blinded him, forcing him to stop,” he said.
“The two men, armed with homemade guns, then ordered the driver to get out, saying they wanted to use the bus for some work.
“The driver pleaded to them that it was a hospital vehicle but the gunmen ignored him.
“The duo then searched the bus and took away the personal belongings of the driver and the nurse.
“They then pulled the nurse out of the bus, dragged her to the nearby bushes where they took turns to rape her.”
The gunmen then fled and the driver and nurse then headed for the police station to lodge a report.
The next day, police conducted investigations in the village and arrested the two suspects.
“The suspects are not part of the notorious Tommy Maeva Baker’s gang,” Supt Neggi said.
Last Thursday, the Milne Bay health authority staff held a peaceful protest, marching through town to the village, demanding that the villagers cooperated in police investigations and to bring justice to the assailants who raped the nurse.