Two men killed in attempted rape case

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THERE is great need for a permanent police presence on the island of Siassi following two killings last Thursday.
The killings started when a man from Mararamu village was disturbed by a man from neighbouring Arot village while he was trying to assault a young girl. The Mararamu villager, angry that the Arot villager Paul Gumu was trying to protect the girl, killed him.
Later, he was allegedly killed by locals from three surrounding villages.
Aimalu village peace officers William Selen and Royden Mongori said yesterday in Lae that the Mararamu man had never been dealt with by police after allegedly raping a pregnant woman last December.
They said Gumu came upon the frightened girl who was running away from the man along a bush trek and tried to block him from getting to her.
They said Gumu was part of a group of youths hired by a trade store owner to carry his store goods from the nearby wharf located some two kilometers away. He was travelling ahead of the group when he met the frightened girl.
The youths upon seeing Gumu’s headless body, followed the blood trail to the man’s house before raising their concern with his village leaders in Mararamu.
They managed to convince him to hand himself in. He also confessed to killing Gumu.
He was guarded by his elders at the village men’s house when Gumu’s relatives from Arot and two other surrounding villages arrived, and started chasing the Mararamu villagers who were with the suspect.
The suspect who made off into the nearby bush was caught and killed.
“Currently there are two mourning camps in the two neighboring villages,” said Mongori.
Morobe’s acting provincial administrator and Huon Gulf administrator Tony Ase confirmed the incidents and the deployment of a police unit to the island.
According to the village peace officers, the villagers had on two occasions contributed cash to assist the lone police officer at Bunsil station and a visiting police officer from Lae to arrest the Mararamu man following his alleged rape of the pregnant woman but were ignored.
“The first police officer who I asked for help at Lablab station told me that he was hired by the Ever Well logging company and therefore will not help us. The second resident station commander at Bunsil made us pay for his dinghy fuel but he never came,” Mongori said.
The village peace officers say they had limited powers to control offenders, saying such serious crimes were supposed to be handled by the police.