Wewak police shoot escapee

By GABRIEL FITO
A MAN who escaped from the Ambunti police station in East Sepik was shot dead by police.
Provincial police commander Vincent Pokas said police had earlier arrested the man from Avatip village, who was armed with a bush knife, when he was terrorising people at the market on Monday.
But the man, whose identity was not released, fled from the police cell.
Officers chased him and shot him.
His body was taken from Ambunti to Wewak yesterday.
Pokas ordered his criminal investigation officers to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death.
He said if the doctor’s report confirmed that the man had died from gunshot wounds, the case would automatically be the subject of a coroner’s investigation.
He said no one was above the law and if his policemen were guilty of any misconduct, they would face prosecution.
Meanwhile, a former public servant in Angoram who went to the aid of the mothers and children being harassed by a drunkard at the Angoram market during Christmas has claimed “inhumane treatment” by police at Angoram and Wewak.
Jack Bowie said he acted in self-defence when he hit the drunkard with a tree branch when he approached him with a stick.
He said the man was harassing people at the market.
Bowie said the man was apprehended by Wewak police who were on duty at Angoram and put in the Angoram police cell but was released after Wewak police had left.