Police Officers allegedly stoned youth to death in Papua New Guinea

A YOUNG man who recently completed his Grade 12 at Kerowagi Secondary School in Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea  was allegedly killed by police at Kumbagl, Jiwaka.

Pastor Jerry Kagl of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG told The National last Saturday that Guma Less was allegedly chased into a lake formed by a blocked culvert last Wednesday morning and stoned to death by three policemen.

Kagl said Less worked as a security guard looking after machines owned by Oruwa construction company, which was engaged to fix the road at the blocked culvert site. He said that since the company started work many vehicles and PMV buses bogged down on the road and the security guards helped to pull them out. 

He said on Dec 31 around 6.30am, a 25-seater bus travelling towards Mt Hagen got bogged down in the middle of the road at the construction site.

Kagl said the deceased and fellow guards at the site were in a process of pulling the bus out when Minj police manning the new liquor checkpoint at the border with Chimbu opened fire on them. He said four policemen chased the deceased into the lake.

“When Less swam towards the western side of the lake to escape, four policemen blocked him, one with a gun pointed at him while three others picked up stones left for construction work and attacked him and eventually killed him in the water before running back into their vehicle and sped away,” he said.

An elderly mother, who was selling her betel nuts and cigarettes at the site said she witnessed the incident.

“I stood and watched as four policemen chased the deceased into the lake while other two policemen chased other youths to the other side,” Bepi Kumba said through a translater.

Kagl said they used an excavator to drain the water and retrieve the body, which was handed over to Jiwaka police.

He said the body was later taken by Chimbu police to the Kundiawa Hospital morgue.

Jiwaka police commander Supt Joseph Tondop confirmed the incident. 

The deceased and others were collecting illegal fees from the motorists bogged down at the construction site when police mending the checkpoint chased them.

He said the deceased, who was an employee of the construction company, jumped into the lake and drowned because he wearing gumboots and a jacket.

Tondop said normal police investigation would be carried out and whoever was responsible for the death would be dealt with.

He commended the local tribesmen for re-opening the road.