A MOTHER of five, Jacklyn Oki is calling on the Police Commissioner David Manning to intervene in the case of her disabled husband.
Her husband Holland Oki, 41 years old from Awala village along the Kokoda Highway has been person living with disability after he had a stroke back in 2017, which left his left side of the body completely paralyzed.
As if that was not enough, Holland is now recovering from police brutality after he was discharged by Popondetta General Hospital.
Family members confirmed he was arrested after this paper published an online detailed story of the brutality he received from policemen in the province.
Speaking to this newspaper, the wife said her husband fell victim to police brutality after what he described as the ‘truth’ he posted 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 wife said her husband was charged with cybercrime for his post and thrown into the police cells for almost 19 days.
However, he was released on K300 police bail since Monday and will appear for mention this Friday.
She is concerned about her husband’s health and now calling on the COP to instruct the Internal Affairs Unit in Port Moresby to be sent to the province to investigate the incident and have those policemen face the law.
The wife said no one is above the law and policemen and women in the province must execute their duties according to the law.
According to family members, policemen arrived in the village and picked him (Mr. Oki) up like a common criminal over a matter they alleged was nothing compared to the brutality they brought upon him.
They said these policemen forgot the very serious crimes they committed by forcing him to have sexual intercourse with another youth in their (policemen’s) custody while transporting him to Popondetta after they picked him up at Awala rural police station.
The drunkard youth was picked up at Koipa village also along the Kokoda Highway.
The victim in his statement filed with police after he was discharged by the hospital (copy obtained) reported been blindfolded for refusing to have sexual intercourse with the youth who was forced to remove his clothes. The youth in fear of his life gave in to police orders.
However, the refusal by the victim to obey their orders resulted in him forced to lie on the ground and a policeman urinated on him while his other two policemen took turns hitting his paralyzed leg with stones until they completely fractured it.
The victim (Mr. Oki) also submitted in his statement that these policemen used the barrel of their guns to push it into his anus whenever he tried to avoid the stones.
The victim was admitted to the hospital after other inmates in the police cell, alerted the duty officers when they found him heavily bleeding approximately over 12 hours after he was thrown into the cells.
This incident occurred on the 29th of November last year between 9pm – 2pm that night.
The policemen (all named) were called up from the Popondetta Police Station to pick the victim at the Awala and in the ploy to taking him to Popondetta to lock him up, drove straight into the oil palm trees at Sumbiripa Oil Palm Estate.
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.
The policemen allegedly involved in this incident are said to be still actively performing police duties in the province without any charges being laid on them although complaint was lodged at the Popondetta Police Station.
Hospital staff also confirmed admitting the victim and his discharge from the hospital surgical ward after undergoing surgery.
