Young accountant killed

By JOHN SUPA  
AN accountant, who graduated from the University of Technology in Lae early this year, was allegedly killed last Saturday night in a hit-and-run accident in Goroka town.
The deceased was identified as John Kilam, who was employed as the branch accountant for Super Value Stores in Goroka.
The lone police officer who used a Guard Dog Security vehicle to reach the scene said Kilam might have been under the influence of alcohol when the company vehicle he was driving knocked down a University of Goroka student on the street between West Goroka Primary and Goroka Secondary School.
The officer said Kilam and his male companions tried to flee the scene but ended up in a drain.
Other eyewitnesses said relatives and bystanders chased Kilam, who was trying to seek refuge inside the school yard.
He was reportedly stabbed repeatedly and his head and face smashed.
Kilam was rushed to the Goroka Base Hospital but died from the multiple stab wounds and the beating he took from the relatives of the student.
His murder takes the number of horrific killings in Goroka to four so far this month.
Two weeks ago, a young man was stabbed to death at Notofana, outside town and immediately, relatives retaliated by kidnapping a young man from the Kakaruk market and brutally murdered him in a payback killing.
A day later the beheaded corpse of another man was found further down the Zokozoi River between Nagamiufa and Kama villages.
The three bodies are still at the Goroka Base Hospital morgue while Kilam’s body was taken to the Glenrowan Funeral Home mortuary.
Police and concerned citizens have called for tougher penalties to be imposed on alcohol-related offences.
Songan Kari, of Notofana, suggested people found drinking in public be fined K5,000 or sentenced to five years in jail.
Kari said drivers found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol should be given custodial sentences of 10 years or their licences revoked for life.
Songan called on Eastern Highlands Governor Malcolm Kela-Smith and Goroka MP Thompson Harokaqveh to address the escalating and alarming trend of serious crimes that were occurring almost every day in Goroka.
He said both leaders must boost the under-resourced local police to address such senseless crimes.