Axed in cold blood

Teacher shot in both legs, then chopped to pieces

 

By JAMES APA GUMUNO

 

A SENIOR teacher in Enga was dragged from the vehicle he was travelling in last Friday afternoon and summarily executed in the middle of the highway in front of shocked passengers, The National reports.

Police believed that James Mondo, deputy headmaster of Yaemanda Primary School in Kompiam district was a victim of a payback killing.

Provincial police commander Supt Martin Lakari said more than 20 men from Poreyalum tribe had set up a roadblock at Kompiam and were waiting for a 10-seater Toyota landcruiser as it was returning from Wabag.

He said they singled out Mondo, pulled him out and stood him in the middle of the road.

“He was shot in both legs and when he fell down, the tribesmen, armed with axes, moved in and cut him into pieces. It was barbaric and inhumane,” Lakari said.

Mondo, 40, was from Ulip village, also in Kompiam district.

He was the only one attacked. The other passengers were not robbed or attacked by the clansmen who fled the scene of killing when they saw more vehicle arriving.

Lakari said police would investigate to determine the motive of the killing although they had not ruled out payback killing.

He said police had a hard time putting together the body which they took to the Wabag General Hospital morgue.

“These people do not have any respect for human life and a highly educated man in the district who struggled to develop human resource in a least developed district of Enga,” Lakari said.

He said he was notified of the killing around 3pm and he quickly dispatched his men to Kompiam to monitor the situation and prevent tribal fighting.

Lakari said police urged Mondo’s relatives not to take the law into their own hands and allow police to investigate and deal with the offenders.

Police presence was beefed up on Saturday, together with the criminal investigation officers, to watch over funeral arrangements.

Lakari has appealed to Poreyalum tribal leaders to hand over the killers.