By Theckla Gunga – EM TV, Brown River
The Brown River community along the Brown River Road (Hiritano Highway) in the Central Province are still shaken by Saturday night’s events which left two people dead.
The killings occurred at the Lohava junction, a few metres from the Brown River Bridge on Saturday night.
Details of the double homicide are vague but according to the Brown River Deputy Chairman, Mako Philip, the killings occurred simultaneously, minutes apart from each other.
As retold by Philip, the first victim was part of a group of men who were walking home after a social outing involving alcohol. He said, as they were walking, one of the men threw a stone at an oncoming vehicle. The driver of the vehicle then stopped the vehicle, when realising what the men had done.
Upon seeing the vehicle stop, the group fled into nearby bushes to hide out of fear for them having thrown the stone. Philip and other community elders believe that the occupants of the vehicle may have then approached the men and during the confrontation, killed the victim who was part of the group of locals.
According to the elders, one of the occupants of the vehicle carried the victim away from the crime scene, upon realising that the man was dead, allegedly to dispose the body. It is understood that he was walking towards the Brown River Bridge when he was met by relatives of the victim 20 metres away from the crime scene.
Allegedly, it was there that the relatives of the victim, upon seeing the lifeless body of their kin being carried by the man, killed the suspect in retaliation. According to the community, the relatives of the first victim had struck the man with a knife, killing him instantly.
The bodies of both men are now at the Port Moresby General Hospital mortuary and investigations are underway.
The Brown River Road where the double homicide was reported, runs north out of Port Moresby and across the Brown River and Vanapa River flats.
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