A PERSON with disability identified is now recovering from police brutality after he was discharged from the Popondetta General Hospital.
He is Holland Okie, 41 year old from Awala village along the Kokoda Highway.
The victim was admitted to the hospital after other inmates locked in the police cells alerted the duty officers when they found him heavily bleeding from police beating leaving him with fractured left leg from the waist down.
Provincial Police Commander Chief Inspector Ewai Segi confirmed to this newspaper that the report of the incident was filed by the victim’s family with his office and also with the provincial police internal affairs unit.
The incident occurred on the 29th of November last year between 9pm – 2pm that night.
Documents obtained by this paper allege these policemen (all named) were called up from the Popondetta Police Station to pick the victim at the Awala rural police station along the Kokoda Highway and in the ploy of taking him to Popondetta to lock him up, drove straight into the oil palm trees at Sumbiripa Oil Palm Estate.
It is alleged after they were out of sight, they forced the victim out of the vehicle, blindfolded him and forced him to lie on the ground before one policeman urinated on him while his other two comrades took turns using his legs as punching bag with stones until they completely fractured his disabled leg from the waist down.
These policemen are also alleged to have used the barrel of their firearms to push into his anus every time he tried to turn around in pain to avoid stones landing on his leg.
The victim in his statement said after he was left with complete fracture, they forced him to drag himself by climbing into the vehicle and drove him to Popondetta Police Station where they threw him into the police cells and left him in pain and bleeding for approximately over 12 hours.
He fell victim to police brutality after what he described as the ‘truth’ he decided to post on his personal Facebook page wall, raising concerns regarding the public conduct of a policeman and his police wife (named) recently transferred to Awala rural police station.
The report also states another drunkard youth (named) who was picked up at Koipa village also along the Kokoda Highway was also in the same police vehicle and witnessed what had taken place that night.
The victim alleged, police also ordered the drunkard youth to remove his clothes and bend over so he (disabled victim) can have sexual intercourse with him.
However, the refusal to obey their orders to have sex resulted in them facing the brutality in the hands of these policemen that night.
The victim had a stroke back in 2017, which left the left side of the body paralyzed.
The victim said with this incident, there is nothing he can do for his five children, three boys and two daughters but watch his wife perform his role as well as her role as a mother.
The policemen allegedly involved in this incident are still actively performing police duties in the province.
Hospital staff interviewed confirmed the victim was discharged from the hospital surgical ward after undergoing surgery with plates inserted and crewed on from the hips down to his foot.
Meanwhile, the Provincial internal affairs unit confirmed the Internal Affairs Unit in Port Moresby are aware of this incident and they would be on the ground to conduct investigations on the incident.
