Police and members of the Lae’s
East Taraka community yesterday began a hunt for three suspects wanted
for the rape of a Lae nurse on Saturday.
This came after one suspect turned
himself in on Monday hours after Angau hospital staff staged a sit
in strike and demanded the arrest of the rapists within 48 hours. The
other was arrested by police yesterday.
The first suspect known only as “Nimo” has given the names and details of three others.
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As in many urban communities, when
crimes are committed, there’s always somebody who knows the
troublemakers. The reaction from the community has been one of
outrage.
Heads were shaken and the disgust
and the anger on the faces of both young and old was clear as the police
officer in charge called out the names of three young men who broke
into the nurse’s home.
Those present at the meeting know them. They know their parents and they know where they live.
“We have to bring that boy (Nimo)
here and ask him,” said one community leader. “If he doesn’t cooperate
we’ll burn down his house.”
The East Taraka suburb is known for
all the wrong reasons. This was once home. My parents lived in this
neighborhood. They were assaulted and robbed in the first years of
residence. But as the years went by, my dad who helped out in the
neighborhood church, got to work with some of the youths who stole his
shoes and our television previously.
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If you live there long enough, you
understand it’s a close knit community. You can’t run and you can’t
hide if you commit a crime like rape.
Cases of sexual assault should grab attention of any decent law abiding community.
But many other instances of rape
throughout the country, parents and relatives of the victims seek
compensation and those responsible go unpunished.
This case has grabbed attention only
because the victims colleagues have stood up for her, closed a public
hospital and demanded action from authorities.
Do I hear some political murmur for
stricter penalties? Maybe the death penalty? Apart from Gary Juffa, the
political silence has been deafening!
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