‘My mum’s not an animal like a chicken in a freezer’
 |
| Sylvia, outside the Kavita compound haus cry, appealing to the Government to fast track police investigations into her mother’s death to claim her body for burial. |
‘My mum’s not an animal like a chicken in a freezer’
PORT MORESBY: Enough is enough! Eighty-six-year-old grandma Rodha Dick body has been lying in the Alotau Hospital for about eight months.
The release of Rodha’s remains is long overdue and a public embarrassment that the Government has to resolve as quickly as possible.
Can you imagine the agony and grief Rodha’s family members are undergoing?
Her daughter, Sylvia Saveru, 48, has come out with a stinging and emotional appeal to the police, authorities and the Government: “My mother is not an animal like a chicken in a freezer for that long. She needs a decent funeral to let her rest in peace.
“Please fast track police investigations so that my family can claim her body for funeral rites.”
 |
| Rodha … her body has been lying in the mortuary for about eight months |
Rodha was shot and killed in the Kitava compound in Alotau on Dec 6 in a police shooting and fire incident linked to a manhunt for Tommy Maeva Baker and his gang of killers and robbers.
Here’s the full report of Sylvia’s appeal as published by The National:
Here’s the full report of Sylvia’s appeal as published by The National:
‘Let me bury my mother’
By SYLVESTER WEMURUMY mother is not an animal like a chicken in a freezer and she needs a decent funeral, 48-year-old Sylvia Saveru says.
“Please, fast track police investigations so that my family can claim Rodha Dick’s body for funeral rites and let her rest in peace,” she added.
Rodha was shot and killed in the Kitava compound in Alotau on Dec 6 in a police shooting and fire incident linked to a manhunt on Tommy Maeva Baker and his gang of killers and robbers.
Rodha’s body has been lying in the Alotau Hospital’s mortuary for about eight months, awaiting a second post-mortem to determine whether the bullet that hit her came from the police.
Villagers have mustered courage to speak up, alleging that there was no shootout between the police and Baker in their compound that day.
Police Minister Bryan Kramer had said that investigations into Rodha’s death would be prioritised.
Southern commander Asst Comm John Maru has taken the lead last week to conduct investigations in Milne Bay to determine what actually happened in the Kitava compound on Dec 6.
Sylvia told The National: “We have been waiting for almost eight months to claim her remains for burial.
“It is too expensive to hold a haus cry for that long.
“My mother is not an animal like the chicken that is in the freezer for that long.
“I want the people responsible to put themselves into my family’s shoe and feel the pain and agony that we are feeling.”
She said the police minister and the police commander had commented in the media that they would be coming “to help us but we are still waiting for action”.
“It is costly commuting between Kavita and Alotau,” she said.
“Many of our family members in the village had travelled to town bringing us food and other things to help us during our mourning in the past months with some having given up.
“We are still waiting for the Government and the people responsible to conduct the post-mortem, remove the bullet from my mother’s body and carry out ballistic tests to determine the source of the bullet.
“Eight months and more of waiting is simply too agonising.”
“Please, fast track police investigations so that my family can claim Rodha Dick’s body for funeral rites and let her rest in peace,” she added.
Rodha was shot and killed in the Kitava compound in Alotau on Dec 6 in a police shooting and fire incident linked to a manhunt on Tommy Maeva Baker and his gang of killers and robbers.
Rodha’s body has been lying in the Alotau Hospital’s mortuary for about eight months, awaiting a second post-mortem to determine whether the bullet that hit her came from the police.
Villagers have mustered courage to speak up, alleging that there was no shootout between the police and Baker in their compound that day.
Police Minister Bryan Kramer had said that investigations into Rodha’s death would be prioritised.
Southern commander Asst Comm John Maru has taken the lead last week to conduct investigations in Milne Bay to determine what actually happened in the Kitava compound on Dec 6.
Sylvia told The National: “We have been waiting for almost eight months to claim her remains for burial.
“It is too expensive to hold a haus cry for that long.
“My mother is not an animal like the chicken that is in the freezer for that long.
“I want the people responsible to put themselves into my family’s shoe and feel the pain and agony that we are feeling.”
She said the police minister and the police commander had commented in the media that they would be coming “to help us but we are still waiting for action”.
“It is costly commuting between Kavita and Alotau,” she said.
“Many of our family members in the village had travelled to town bringing us food and other things to help us during our mourning in the past months with some having given up.
“We are still waiting for the Government and the people responsible to conduct the post-mortem, remove the bullet from my mother’s body and carry out ballistic tests to determine the source of the bullet.
“Eight months and more of waiting is simply too agonising.”
Comments
Post a Comment