Harrowing, gut-wrenching, horrific and what else you can think of

I am not so sure if we have to show the picture to the world too...

I am almost choking tears. I do not need to write more. There is no need to even include or describe the picture that is the subject of my attention in front of me now!

It is enough to say this that an elderly woman is sprawled on the ground. Her young son, the only relative that appears to be on the scene is crying over her limp body.

She has tyre marks on her abdomen, indicating the possible cause of her fate.

The pictures of the young child crying over his mother’s lifeless body are said to have gone viral over social media.
The pictures are on the front page of the Post-Courier (Thursday, October 16, 2014) and the title: Dead over buai.

The story is that police reservists attached with the NCDC, and enforcing the buai ban chased her and a two other women.

In her attempt to escape from them she, without looking, ran into the path of a speeding vehicle and was ran over. Instant death.

It is a cruel, horrific, absolutely gut-wrenching and harrowing scene that no one wants to see.

Eye witnesses claim, that she was actually chased and ran to avoid being caught but into the path of an oncoming vehicle.

The vehicle did not stop after hitting her, while the policemen instead of taking her to the hospital actually fled the scene.

The elderly lady from Goilala in the Central Province died and was taken to the morgue by ambulance.

This was a case of policing the buai ban that went horribly wrong.

The betel nut ban has been in place for a while, but the tactics to enforce and police the ban must be drastically reviewed and changed.

Here’s a mother trying to eke out a living for herself and her family, yet driven by enforcement tactics that are clearly questionable, to her death.

In the meantime, in the media there are a lot of reports of police brutality and bullying tactics.

A private school in Hohola has been destroyed and staff assaulted in retaliation for an attack on a police officer at 9-Mile.

A UPNG lecturer was severely bashed by rogue officers last weekend at a service station in Port Moresby.

The police hierarchy is concerned and talking, so hopefully that some drastic measures are taken now to clamp down on the abuses and violations of human rights.

After all PNG is not a police state. As much as the public need police to protect lives and properties, and maintain the rule of law, it needs to be said that a high level of professional care and tact must be demonstrated by police officers when dispensing their constitutional duties.

With the current development in the city and many parts of the country in relation to police behaviour and attitude towards the public, I ask the following questions.

Who is really our neighbour in a city like Port Moresby?

Can we trust and hope that we can expect more and better from the police?

When can the public and police work together to make the city a better place to live in?

Wonderful poem. I express the same sentiment as what others here have stated. Let's all pray for justice to prevail.

Diddie - Thanks for the poem. It captures our hearts.

I was upset and cried when I read about the incident and saw the picture when it first appeared on Facebook.

As I said in the PNG Poetry page that I administer there, if ever there was a picture on Facebook that depicted the saddest and worst part about us as a faceless uncaring people, that picture (on the right) was it for me.

Gutless and faceless policemen who had reportedly fled the scene, faceless bystanders just showing dirty feet, a kid bowed in grief (not even a hand of comfort on him), weeping over the half naked uncovered body of his mother stretched out on a hard/hot/unfriendly/crowded yet lonely street?

I cried and asked myself, Is this where we are now, and what we have become as a people?

Below are a few lines (haiku) to complement your lovely poem:

She lies motionless
Orphan weeps on the bloody street
This heart is breaking

Rogue cops roam the roads
Open sewers on the Highways
Smelly Shitty Streets

Rascals man the byways
Buai seller mum lies dead
Damn shitty rangers !

Thanks again Diddie for the poem.

From the Sepik Forum - from two of my friends from this Forum, I don't think they will mind me passing on their appreciation for this poem.

Rave is a young man and comes from the isolated Frieda River area and Simon, who I knew at Brandi in the 1970s, is also a writer and is from Vanimo.

Rave Bong Semhess commented, "Indeed my heart almost tore when seeing this death's post on the front page. I really can't forget about imagining back to my lovely and unforgettable mum back in 2010 who has left and gone due to an unexpected illness.
My mum, my everything, and my life.

Simon Amo commented, "I read this with tears at my age. A poetry piece full of imagination and creativity and yet, it's all real about the common struggle for life that our mothers, sisters, wives and others put up at what you call, informal sectors.

The love of a mother is so great that even, when you her child do not send her money every time she requests from home, you could almost hear her saying to herself, "It's alright, my son. Keep the price of your labour but, your eyes are mine".

Congratulations, our poet Diddie Kinamun Jackson.

Rave Bong Semhess also commented - "Simon Amo, absolutely right, and this poem is making my heart cry and I'm feeling troubled hearted.

Very sad for me such a motherless kid.

Rave Bong Semhess Simon Amo, aboslutely right and is making my heart crying and feeling troubled hearted.
Very sad for me such a motherless kid.