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NEWS CUTTINGS

General - current (18/6/01 to 31/12/01):

RED CROSS OFFICE DESTROYED (Post-Courier 24/12/01)

RED Cross International’s office in Arawa was burned to the ground in apparent anger over the weapons disposal plans on Friday. Raiders stole 40 drums of petrol and a car belonging to the United Nations Development Program before setting fire to the building. Red Cross Arawa officials remained tight lipped at the weekend about the issue. They said they would not comment because it was a “very sensitive issue’’. However UN officials said from Arawa: “The office was burned to ashes early on Friday morning. “More than 40 drums of fuel that was stored at the Red Cross office were also removed with a UNDP car before the office was destroyed.’’

Reports reaching the Post-Courier said that Bougainville Revolutionary Army officials in Arawa, the troubled province’s former capital, were not happy with certain activities in the area. The BRA leaders also claimed the weapons disposal program was only benefiting the “big people’’. But UN officials from Arawa said there were other things that had “stirred’’ up the people in the area. The weapons were to be stored in containers provided by New Zealand. Although the ex combatants ‘had been ready for some time’ to hand in their weapons, they blamed the government for ‘dragging its feet’ in sending officials to formalise the the surrender of weapons. The onus had been put on Bougainvilleans to take the lead but the Government had been slow.

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KEREMA THROWN INTO CHAOS WITH HOLD-UP (Post-Courier 14/12/01)

THE sleepy little Gulf Province town of Kerema came alive on Friday with gunfire as Christmas shoppers cowered for cover. In a “cops and robbers’’ scene rarely seen in this outpost west of Port Moresby, gunmen walked into the Kerema Traders supermarket and robbed the shop of its day’s takings, eyewitnesses said. The robbers then fled but not before stripping a police guard outside the PNG Banking Corporation branch of his shotgun. The PNGBC bank is about 100 metres down street from the Traders supermarket in the one-street provincial capital.

Provincial police commander Albert Korin confirmed the incident, saying police had mounted operations to recover the stolen money and shotgun. He said policemen guarding the PNGBC returned fire when the criminals fired on them after robbing the supermarket. However, a youth with a pistol mingling with the bank crowd, pulled out the firearm and pointed it at the head of the policeman with the shotgun and wrestled away the gun. He said the youth then took the police issue shotgun and joined his gang which provided cover for him. An eyewitness said the gang fled the scene in a waiting truck and its leaders are at large. The eyewitness said people fled in all directions and those caught in the shop and bank all cowered under whatever little cover they could find. “Luckily no-one was hurt,” the eyewitness said. “Before, there was nothing like this. Now we have a direct road link from Port Moresby and the bad guys are coming in,’’ he said.

Meanwhile Kerema mayor Jack Narrie has appealed to Mr Korin to stop his men from intimidating and harassing innocent villagers. Councillor Narie alleged that policemen had been going into nearby villages and demanding to know the identity and whereabouts of the robbers and threatening villagers. Mr Korin said he had received concerns from village leaders of Siviri, Karaeta and Luluitera about the behaviour of policemen. The police chief said policemen were not above the law when carrying out their duties and said he would not tolerate any of his men who threatened or intimidated a member of the public.

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POLICEMAN SHOT IN BANK HOLDUP - EXPAT MANAGER STABBED IN HEIST (Post-Courier 6/12/01)

CRIMINALS shot a policeman and stabbed a man while robbing the Mount Hagen Westpac Bank branch yesterday. The policeman was shot in the chest by gang members positioned outside the bank and the man, the bank manager, was stabbed by the criminals in the bank. The injured policeman was airlifted to Port Moresby late yesterday for medical treatment. He is in a serious condition. All banks and some businesses in Mount Hagen city closed for the day after the robbery. The bank branch manager, an expatriate, reportedly suffered a knife wound to his hand.

Deputy Highlands divisional commander Giossi Labi said it was the second holdup the bank had suffered in just over a month. On October 25, security guards foiled an attempt to rob the bank. According to Chief Superintendent Labi, the suspects went into the bank as it opened for business at 8.45am. They were in two groups. One entered the bank and the other took up positions outside. A witness who was inside the bank at the time of the robbery said when the criminals entered the bank, they ordered all the people to lie on the floor. The eyewitness said the men all wore military fatigues and were heavily armed. While on the floor, the witness heard the criminals ordering bank tellers to put all the money into bags. That took about five minutes. Meanwhile, outside, a police unit which responded to a distress call from an anonymous caller arrived at the bank. A policeman from that unit was walking towards the bank when he was shot in the chest. The gang made a clean getaway soon after that in a utility. On their way out, they fired several shots into the air and into buildings. 

Police used a Hevi-Lift helicopter to give chase. Mr Labi said three people are being questioned in relation to the robbery. He appealed to people to come forward with information on the robbers if they know their whereabouts. The police and the bank did not disclose the amount of money stolen.

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PRIEST DIES FOR K45 - POLICE SLOW TO REACT – CLAIMS BUSINESSMAN (Post-Courier 26/11/01)

CATHOLIC priest Hubert Hofmans was killed for K45 on Friday outside Lae. The veteran of church building work was gunned down by criminals who were not satisfied with the K45 in his pockets.

That emerged from a message sent to church members on Friday evening by Catholic Bishops Conference secretary Lawrence Stephens. “We have just received the shocking news of another violent death,’’ Mr Stephens told members. He said Fr Hofmans was “shot dead in front of the family he had gone to visit, to pay K45 to them for some help they had given’’. He said: “The killers did not believe K45 was all he had and searched him after the shooting for more money.’’ Mr Stephens said the Marianhill fathers, a Catholic church order, had lost an enthusiastic missionary. Fr Hofmans had been involved in many ways in the lives of the people of Lae. He had been a builder, a designer and an organiser of more than 800 youths. ‘The conference in PNG and SI has lost another remarkable, dedicated priest,’’ he said. “Our condolences and gratitude for the gift he has been to PNG go to his family and his confreres.’’

Fr Hofmans, from Limburg in the Netherlands, was the parish priest at Christ the King parish at 11 Mile. He had gone to the City of Joy mission, near St Joseph’s Technical School, to visit workers there and was driving down the hill on to the main highway when he was stopped by a gang who demanded money at about 1.30pm. The gang dragged him out of the car and then shot him in the head before fleeing. A security company officer driving by stopped and picked up the cleric and rushed him to the Tusa Private Hospital, but he died at about 3pm. His body was taken to the St Mary’s Cathedral, where people were allowed to view it. A large group of people, mostly Catholics, followed the body from the Tusa Clinic to the St Mary’s Cathedral weeping for the priest, known to many as “Papa Hubert”. A number of crying women asked why it had to be Catholic priests.

Only in August this year, another Catholic priest was murdered in his sleep at the Franciscan Formation House, at 16-Mile, in Port Moresby. Fr Fabian Thom was shot in the head at close range while he was asleep in his bed. The murder of Fr Hofmans in Lae last Friday comes on the back of rising concerns over the increase in law and order problems in Lae city. Business houses and city residents have expressed concerns on the rising crime trend, especially armed hold-up and rape. Only last week, the Lae Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon for its members, where they raised serious concerns over the problems, calling on the provincial government, administration and police to do something about the illegal settlements on the fringes of the city. Only last week the Lae Chamber of Commerce called a meeting of its members where they raised serious concerns over the problems, urging the provincial government, administration and police to do something about the illegal settlements on the fringes of the city.

Earlier last week, a woman was attacked and raped at Five Mile as she was returning home from work. Earlier in the month also, a young schoolgirl was pack raped by a gang near the Malahang Industrial Centre. There had also been frequent hold-ups and attempted hold-ups over the past two months in the city and along the highway from Two Mile to Six Mile, where there are large settlements. Lae Chamber of Commerce president Alan McLay, who visited Fr Hofmans just before he died, said the concerns of chamber members had become very real, and the murder of the cleric only heightened these concerns. “We have a real problem here, and a major effort is required,” he said. Securimax Lae branch manager Leigh Ramsdale, who had called for a concerted effort by everyone to combat crime problem in Lae, said he had warned something like this was bound to happen. A Securimax officer involved in moving Fr Hofmans from the scene of the shooting to the Tusa Clinic also voiced concerns on the slow reaction by police to the killing on Friday when the alarm was raised.

Fr Sido, the parish priest of St Mary’s parish said there were very few priests left. “We have just five priests in Lae now,” he said. Fr Hofmans, who was responsible for building many of the church’s buildings in Morobe, Southern Highlands, East New Britain and North Solomons, through JOB (St Joseph’s Old Brothers) Builders, a building and construction company he founded, had been in the country for more than 37 years. He had also been the chaplain for the Antioch youth movement in and around Lae. Fr Hofmans was born in Limburg, the Netherlands, in 1939. He arrived in PNG in 1964 as a Christian Brother of the Marianhill order. He had come to PNG as a carpenter and architect, and spent years building churches in several provinces, before being stationed in Lae, where he founded the JOB Builders. Only recently, he returned to his home in the Netherlands for leave, and had returned to Lae. He built the new 11 Mile Christ the King parish church, and was assigned to look after it as parish priest. The Catholic Archdiocese in Lae has sent a message of his death to his family.

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AUSSIE SHOT IN CHEST IN ROBBERY BID (The National 21/8/01)

A MAN who was shot in the chest during a robbery attempt in Port Moresby at the weekend managed to drive out of further danger. Australian Peter Kochannek, 52, a public servant from Coogee in Sydney, was returning home after shopping with his young daughter on Saturday morning when a "raskol" fired a home made shotgun at his car at Two-Mile Hill.

He was the second Australian shot in the city in the space of 48 hours - Catholic priest Father Fabian (Gerard) Thom, 63, was hacked and shot dead by a gang in his bedroom at a Franciscan order novitiate last Thursday night.

Mr Kochannek is a tax expert with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), on secondment to the PNG Internal Revenue Department. He was shot in the chest just under the right arm, but his ribs deflected the pellets from his heart. Recovering in Port Moresby General Hospital yesterday, Mr Kochannek told AAP: "I have experienced a few attacks before and I know this man, but he had never opened fire before. "He aimed the shotgun at me as I turned off Two-Mile Hill to my home ... I had no choice but to stop because of the traffic. "And when I didn't react properly and tried to reverse (the car), he let go (discharged the gun). I was very lucky - the bullet ricocheted off my chest."

Mr Kochannek said that after the gunshot he sped forward and drove home, where his Filipina wife took over the vehicle and drove him to hospital. "I went into surgery pretty soon after and they got out 11 pellets. I didn't lose consciousness before they put me under." Mr Kochannek first served for the ATO in PNG from 1972 to 1974 and then returned on secondment in 1976, making his total service in PNG 25 years. He said he planned to "go finish" back to Australia next year. 

Meanwhile, Brother John Nasale, who opened the door to Fr Thom's room to find the priest dead in his bed, said that he believes from what he saw that the priest was shot in cold blood while asleep. He denied a report attributed to him that there might have been a struggle between Fr Thom and the killers. "When I arrived there, he was in his bed, with his skull opened and blood on the wall above his head and on the floor," Br Nasale said. Police have arrested six people in connection with the murder, but investigations are continuing.

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THREE WOMEN LYNCHED OVER ALLEGED WITCHCRAFT (The National 17/8/01)

THREE women have been killed, allegedly for practicing witchcraft, in two separate incidents in Morobe and Chimbu provinces in the past week.

In the Morobe incident, two women were tortured and hacked to death in front of their families in the early hours of yesterday morning at Four Mile in Lae after being accused of practicing sorcery. The women, believed to be in their mid-30s, are from the Eastern Highlands province. Police confirmed the deaths but declined to release details of the incident until investigations were completed. According to Four-Mile resident Malakai Mavo, the two women and an accomplice were accused of killing the son of one of the slain woman and "eating his heart". He said the allegations stemmed from the death of the boy last Sunday. Relatives confronted the two women early yesterday morning at the Four Mile settlement and upon extracting confessions from them over the killing of the child and eating his heart, the angry mob killed them, torched their bodies, tied them up and dragged them out onto the street for public display in the morning. Police and an ambulance were later called to the scene of the incident to take away the bodies.

In the incident in Chimbu last week, a 40-year-old woman accused of practising sorcery, was tortured, then shot dead. The woman was dragged out of her home in the night, hacked with axes, then shot in the head before her body was dumped in a river about 1km from her village in the Chuave district. Chimbu police commander Superintendent Simon Kauba confirmed the killing. He said the deceased was married with six children. The villagers had accused her of using sorcery on a person who died after an illness. Mr Kauba said the killing was reported to police after the body was recovered from the river. He said there were axes wounds all over the body and the bullet wound on the head. Mr Kauba said Criminal Investigation Division officers are investigating the killing and have picked up two suspects for questioning.

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LOCAL NEWS STORIES (The Post-Courier 10/8/01)

Robberies top crime list in Mount Hagen Local News ARMED robberies have topped the crime list in Mount Hagen, Western Highlands Province. Police reports show armed robberies are occurring on a daily basis. Break, enter and stealing, and rape, are the next most common crimes in the province. Business houses in town (Mount Hagen) complained in the past few weeks that they were losing thousands of kina through armed robberies and break, enter and stealing,'' a police report said. Provincial police commander Superintendent Wini Henao said that at the weekend thousands of kina worth of money and property were stolen in robberies and break, enter and stealing incidents.

Mr Henao said that on Friday a man was held up at Tarangau at midday by armed men who stole more than K12,000 and a vehicle. He said the man was on his way to pay workers. Police gave chase and recovered the vehicle at Wara Kum. The thieves escaped.

ALSO on Friday a group of criminals armed with guns and knives held up staff of Dae Won Trading in town and stole more than K2000 in cash and other items, including radios and watches.

THE manager of Fresh Farm Development Corporation was held up on Saturday and his office vehicle stolen.

ON Saturday night, thieves broke into the Mount Hagen Primary School and stole six sewing machines.

TWO guards at a secondhand clothing shop at Kindeng allegedly forced a woman customer into a toilet and took turns raping her. The guards have not been arrested.

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ACCUSED ADMITS KILLING EXPAT COUPLE (The National 10/8/01)

A MAN from Henguru village, Okapa, in the Eastern Highlands yesterday pleaded "guilty" to charges of double wilful murder of an expatriate couple. Appearing before the National Court in Waigani, Port Moresby, Ano Evasa Hane, 25, entered the guilty plea to two counts of killing a Chinese couple on Jan 12, 2000. The deceased were identified as Quin Minglong and Yu XioFung.

It was reported earlier that the accused slashed the couple with a bushknife at their Three Mile tuckshop in Port Moresby in the early hours of Jan 12. Their heads were also chopped off. When Justice Panuel Mogish asked whether it was true that he committed the killings, the accused admitted that he did. The court was then adjourned to next Thursday for submissions following an application by the counsel from the Public Solicitor's Office representing the accused.

Earlier on during the proceedings, immediately after the accused had entered the guilty plea, his counsel made an application to change the plea to "not guilty". The court was then adjourned briefly. When it resumed, however, the accused's lawyer made an application to revoke his earlier application, leaving Hane's guilty plea to stand. The court was then adjourned to Aug 16. Judge Mogish also cited earlier Supreme Court cases and reminded counsels for both the defence and the prosecution that "not guilty" plea applications made by counsels representing their clients had rarely been successful because the courts do not entertain them. However, he indicated that the "guilty" plea can be changed in circumstances where the accused finds difficulty in understanding the language of the courts.

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SUSPECTED COP KILLERS DEAD IN JOINT OPERATION (The National 10/8/01)

TWO MEN, both convicted murderers, who killed Constable Albert Kapala in Kainantu late last month were shot dead by Goroka and Kainantu police last Saturday. According to Highlands police commander Tony Wagambie, the men were killed at Obura electorate in a joint mobile squad and police operation in the area. An unlicenced shotgun was recovered. He also said that the people of Batanabur village, where the Mr Kapala was killed, have fled. Mr Wagambie, who returned from Goroka on Monday, said that the police will continue the hunt for the Batanabur villagers until all those involved in Mr Kapala's killed are caught. He identified the two slain as David Nesokana and Kana Akau. Mr Wagambie said that many people who condemned the killing of Mr Kapala had wanted to chop up the bodies of the slain men and cook them in public, but were prevented from doing so. He thanked the people from Aiyura, Porua and Kainantu for their cooperation with the police. From the information he received, the Batanabur villagers are currently camping out at the border of Goroka and Lae.

Meanwhile, two elderly women from Gumine accused of killing a man by sorcery on Sunday have been axed to death by relatives of the deceased. According to Chimbu provincial police commander Chief Superintendent Simon Kauba, the relatives of the two deceased are still looking for their bodies. He said the relatives of the deceased man suspected the two women of using sorcery to kill their kin. The deceased man was identified as Leo Kaupa, and the police believe that he died of natural courses on Sunday afternoon. Mr Kauba identified the two deceased women as Topma Nilkare, 40 and Danga Mabin, 50 both from Kewabale village in Gumine district. He said they were both killed at Omkolai on Monday afternoon.

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KILLING CONDEMMED (The Post-Courier 1/8/01)

LUFA MP Mathias Karani has condemned the brutal slaying of a police constable in an Eastern Highlands village as barbaric, inhuman and cowardly’’. As a former policeman, he said the killings were the sign of a sick society.

Villagers, allegedly heeding the cries of a fleeing prison escapee for help, hacked First Constable Albert Kapala to death in Batanabura Village, between Kainantu and Aiyura Valley, on Sunday.

He was part of a police party attempting to recapture Neso Tana, who escaped from prison where he had been serving a 23-year term for murder.

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PEACE CORPS QUITTING PNG OVER SECURITY By Yehiura Hriehwazi (The National 18/6/01)

AFTER a 20-year partnership, US volunteer service Peace Corps is closing down its operations in Papua New Guinea, citing deteriorating security problems as the reason.

Even as news of the directive from the Peace Corps headquarters filtered out, several Peace Corps officers yesterday went through the trauma of witnessing an armed attack in a car park in Port Moresby, where someone's fingers were chopped off. Country director Annamaria Watrin told The National yesterday: "We truly and deeply regret this decision" particularly when the volunteer service has served in PNG for 20 years. This makes Peace Corps one of the longest serving volunteer organisations that has brought in a total of young 800 volunteers, mostly as teachers and rural community development members. The volunteers have worked in remote areas like Bema, Menyamya and Wasu in Morobe province and Wasab in Madang and in areas like Misima, Goodenough in Milne Bay and many other rural outposts. They have been subjected to aggravated assault, robbery at gunpoint, attacked while working alongside their local counterparts and have had their cars stolen and their homes broken into, according to Ms Watrin. 

The Peace Corps headquarters in Washington DC had evaluated the country report and concluded that the risk factor in PNG was three times higher than other developing countries where it has operations in. The Peace Corps operates in 80 countries all over the world. Ms Watrin said in recent years, the number of volunteers entering PNG had dwindled from 80 to 40, and half of them left for home before finishing their two-year terms. She said every week she had to deal with several security incidents involving the volunteers.

The head of the Peace Corps in Washington DC, Ellen Field issued a notice on June 7 advising of the closure of PNG operations and for all their staff to leave by mid-July. "It is expected that all volunteers will leave Papua New Guinea by mid-July. They will be given the option to transfer to other Peace Corps posts. Because of the difficult security climate in PNG, over the last 16 months the Peace Corps has been assessing the viability of its program. Extensive attention has been given to safety and security issues and strengthening the Peace Corps/PNG's capacity to evaluate, to prevent and to respond systematically to security issues as they arise. The Peace Corps/PNG has made tangible and meaningful enhancements in all these areas, including relocation of volunteers based upon security considerations. However, trends over which the Peace Corps has no control, suggest that there are no longer enough viable volunteer assignments with potential for coherent and effective projects in the country's safer areas to justify continuance of the program," Ms Field wrote.

The closure will put 12 PNG employees out of work.

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