Pregnant woman’s head chopped off

By JUNIOR UKAHA

A pregnant woman was decapitated last Sunday after she was attacked by a man in her home, The National reports.
Lucy Evi Apini, 25, from Inawii village, Bereina, Central, was alone in her home when the 18-year-old suspect from the same village approached her and asked to light his cigarette.
Police reports said while Apini was trying to give him a light, the suspect pulled out a bush knife and hit her on the back.
Provincial police commander John Maru said the suspect then swung the knife at her neck and chopped her head off.
He said the reason for the killing was not known but police believe Apini’s husband, Charles Aisaga, might “know something”.
Police briefs said the victim was eight months pregnant when she was killed.
Village councillor Joseph Ofoi said the killing had “shocked” the people of Inawii.
He said the relatives of the deceased were angry but wanted the police to thoroughly investigate the matter and arrest the suspect.
“This is a very sad case. I think it is a double murder as the woman was carrying an unborn child inside her when she was killed,” he said.
He said the suspect was allegedly mentally retarded and was known to be a drug addict.
Ofoi said this was the third time a murder had occurred in the
village but police had handled the cases very poorly.
He said the suspects in all the murder cases were known to the villagers but police always had transport problems and did not follow up on the cases. 
The matter was reported to Bereina police last Thursday and they attended to the scene, but by then, the suspect had fled.
Maru condemned the killing and assured the relatives of the deceased police would use all available resource to find the suspect.

Killing sparks Bogia riot

By JAYNE SAFIHAO

A village has been razed to the ground as a result of the gruesome killing of a Grade 3 student from the Asarumba Care Centre in Bogia last Saturday, The National reports.
Eyewitnesses and Bogia Mayor Felix Bangai said the 11-year-old boy and his teenage brother left early in the morning to look for coconuts.
He said they had walked to the border of Kalilat village, the last village after Bogia.
While trying to husk coconuts there, the brothers were ambushed by a group of Kalilat youths who shouted at them to leave. The elder brother sensing danger ran ahead of the younger one.
Unable to catch up, Junior Bari Gumai of Dangale village, Manam, died while running, speared in the back with a fishing gun. The metal fishing spear had a thick metal tip fixed with a hook.
The gang then took the boy’s body to the beach, burnt the face to make it unrecognisable and then gutted the corpse with a bush knife.
But about 200 relatives of the deceased then marched onto Kalilat village, razing everything in front of them.
They burnt houses and slaughtered animals.
Kalilat villagers then set up roadblocks at three sections of the road, with women and children forced to walk while vehicles were stopped from going to or from Bogia.
But Snr Constable Adam Yawing, the man in charge of the North Coast Road highway patrol saved the day by disbanding the angry Kalilat youths while asking for the surrender of the killers.
An auxiliary policeman and community leader Joe Viaken said they were turned upon by the men from Kalilat when they tried to intervene.
“We were being shot at with fishing guns. Almost all of them were armed and didn’t respect the law,” he said.
“They shouted abuse at us and used the cover of women and children at the roadblock to attack us.
“One spear landed in the car nearly killing the acting district administrator. We will be reporting the matter to the provincial police commander,” he said.
Viaken said the situation was still tense yesterday after the burial of the boy.
Asarumba care centre spokesman Nelson Mambote has lashed out at the government and is appealing for the government to look at relocating them to a neutral place.
“This is the third death so far since we have been placed here in 2006.
“The first was of a small boy. The Rarin community of Bogia killed and ate the child, cannibal fashion; the second was of a mother and child while out gardening and this is the third.
“Enough is enough, we can­not go on like this,” he said.

Tiensten's CEO says he was blackmailed

CHRIS Hulape said in a statement yesterday that a couple of weeks before their arrest, National Fraud Squad members in Port Moresby visited his Gerehu home and left a telephone landline number 325 9873, The National reports.
Hulape said when he returned the call, a man answered and Hulape introduced himself and was told his call would be returned.
“About half an hour later, the same person called from a bemobile number, 765 34370, and introduced himself as from the fraud squad.
Hulape said when the phone call came through, he was with his lawyer Paul Yange of Warner Shand Lawyers in Kokopo and two policemen, who were present, heard the phone conversation on speaker.
Hulape claimed that the caller said he would help if Hulape cooperated.
He said there was a series of phone calls and text messages throughout the week from the caller asking for cash to be deposited into Westpac Bank account.
Hulape said he had saved the text messages and would give them to police.Hulape said last Friday, at about 9pm, task force members interviewed his wife for about three hours.
“The investigators were kind and diplomatic but did not have the authority to grant police bail.”
He said the East New Britain acting provincial police commander was approached by the task force members at about 1.30am the next
day but bail was denied her, although she was in her final week of pregnancy.
Hulape was arrested and charged the same day

Paul Tiensten's CEO arrested

ONGOING investigations into alleged misuse of millions of kina of state funds in the National Planning Department have led to the weekend arrest of a married couple in Kokopo, East New Britain, The National reports.
The man was reportedly a former executive officer of former national planning and monitoring minister Paul Tiensten.
Torch Bearer Productions Ltd managing director Chris Hulape and wife Agnes Frank-Hulape, who is a shareholder of the company, had been charged with misappropriation and stealing under false pretence.
The arrest by the Task Force Sweep team was in relation to more than K1 million funding for a resource centre and three markets for Kiriwina-Goodenough district in Milne Bay.
The task force members alleged that the couple applied for and received K1.6 million (cheque No.000036 in February for Kiriwina-Good­enough Community Resource and Learning Centre (K600,000) and
the Kiriwina-Goodenough Strategic Market De­velopment Project (K1 million).
Police investigations had revealed that no such projects had taken place, culminating in their arrest on Saturday.
Hulape, 34, of Vailala Hilo village in Kikori, Gulf province, had been refused bail while wife Frank-Hulape, 34, of Rabuana, Rabaul, was charged, detained and released as she is pregnant.
Both would appear before the Kokopo District Court this morning.
Operation Sweep team chairman Simon Koim said in a statement last night that the couple was innocent under the law until proven guilty.
“They will now go through the normal criminal process in court to prove their innocence on the charges laid against them,” he said.
Hulape was tracked down early this month after he allegedly discharged a firearm in public in Kokopo.
Police are still investigating this incident and another alleged misappropriation of K1.5 million for a Gulf school.
Hulape, in a statement yesterday, said the pro­ject submission for building of a resource centre and three markets were supported by a letter signed by the Member for Kiriwina-Goodenough Jack Cameron.
He said the MP and the district administrator formalised the arrangement through a contract signed between Kiriwina-Goodenough district administration and Torch Bearer Productions Ltd.
He said the resource centre was completed and based on Cameron’s request, the funds were released to his preferred sub-contractor accordingly.
“The MP then made numerous requests for Torch Bearer Productions Ltd to off load the remaining project funds to his family company so that they could implement the market project, Hulape claimed.
“This would then be clearly a breach of the contract by Cameron.”
Hulape said a letter signed by the MP, the district administrator and district treasurer cancelling Torch Bearer Productions Ltd’s contract was sent to him saying this was because of delays in completing the project.
A copy of the letter cancelling the contract was sent to the task force team.
Hulape expressed concern that Koim was conducting premature investigations on some well-meaning projects secured through the national go­vernment such as his Kiriwina-Goodenough one.
“This questions the legitimacy and motive of the team and if it is really serving national interest or the interest of a few.”
“The National Planning cheque for K1.6 million was printed on March 1, 2011, and was collected by us in
April and banked in May.”

Greenpeace invasion of Pomio (refer to story below)

Pro-project crowd last Sunday

Pomio district administrator Pomaleu Langisan (centre) and armed police defuse what could have turned out to be a nasty situation in Pomio last Sunday

Pomio about to be invaded by Greenpeace activists and accompanying journalists. They narrowly escaped being attacked by a welcome reception at the wharf

Opposing groups on the warpath as a Greenpeace helicopter hovers over last Sunday

Logging vessel which was defaced by Greenpeace in Pomio lastMonday

Greenpeace activists about to land at the RH wharf in Pomio last Sunday, before being turned away by an angry crowd

An armed policeman stops pro-project group from advancing any further

A Greenpeace helicopter hovers over Pomio last Sunday

Customs confirms breach by Greenpeace

THE Customs Department has confirmed that the Greenpeace vessel, mv Esperanza, breached clearance conditions when it sailed to Pomio, in East New Britain, last Sunday, The National reports.
Greenpeace, which has lost its charitable status in New Zealand after a lengthy investigation, faces a fine of between K500 and K25,000 under section 25 of the Customs Act.
The department's trade and compliance director, Wesley Bulumaris, said the vessel was cleared to enter Papua New Guinea waters but was to sail directly to Port Moresby.
"We have now come to learn through the media that the vessel sailed to Pomio rather than Port Moresby and is currently on anchorage since Sunday, Monday, Tuesday," he said in a letter yesterday to lawyers acting for landowners in Pomio who are opposed to the Greenpeace's publicity stunts and other activities.
A copy of the letter was made available to The National by MS Wagambie Lawyers.
Bulumaris said the captain's action was in breach of the conditions and punishable under the Act.
"Investigation will be carried out to establish the facts for any action to be taken," he said.
Esperanza has since left Pomio and was believed to be heading to Port Moresby with a few landowners to seek political support to stop the special agriculture business leases. A Post-Courier reporter is believed to be on board the vessel.
FM 100 radio reported yesterday that Greenpeace had abandoned its activities in Pomio following protests from landowners who support the oil palm project which is expected to provide jobs, security and infrastructure, royalties and other benefits.
On Monday, lawyers acting for Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Group served notice on Post-Courier to publish an apology over a report on the same day or face legal action.
The Monday report, headlined "Pro-loggers tell visitors to get out", stated that RH was still operating in Pomio despite a stop-work order and was in contempt of court.
Warner Shand Lawyers said no such court order was in place and that the report was malicious.
This would not be the first time that Greenpeace had broken laws to achieve its goals.
Last year, its Rainbow Warrior was escorted out of Indonesian waters after the local authorities discovered discrepancies in the papers submitted by the ship's agent and Greenpeace campaigners.

Stopping traffic in Times Square

It’s not often you get a Huli Wigman and an Asaro Mudman running loose in one of the world’s most popular locations – the Times Square in New York.

But that’s exactly what happened last week when Tourism Promotion Authority staff Oberia Ataku (wigman) and Kaleno Basina (mudman) adorned themselves in their traditional Papua New Guinea bilas and strutted their stuff along the crowded sidewalks and under the bright neon lights of Times Square.

American based internet news service Absolute Travel said in its latest edition: “It’s not easy to stand out in New York City but last week, our buddies from Papua New Guinea literally stopped traffic”.

The Wigman and Mudman also had wide-eyed revelers starring in awe as they strolled through SoHo’s swanky streets.  

Ataku and Basina were promoting PNG in New York and the North American market as part of a media and trade seminar organised by the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority’s United States office.