SYDNEY: A teenage girl beheaded her father with a bush knife after
he raped her at their home in Papua New Guinea, a report said Monday, with
community leaders protecting her, saying the man deserved to die.
The Post-Courier newspaper said
the 18-year-old chopped her father’s head clean off after he repeatedly raped
her last Tuesday night in their village in the poverty-stricken Pacific
nation’s Western Highlands.
The report cited a pastor as
saying the father, in his mid-40s, had three other children and raped his
daughter when they were alone in the house after the mother and the other
siblings visited relatives.
Pastor Lucas Kumi said the man
went to his daughter’s room in the night and raped her repeatedly.
“The father wanted to rape his
daughter again in the morning inside the house and that was when the young girl
picked up the bush knife and chopped her father’s head off,” he said.
Community leaders are now
refusing to hand the girl over to police, vowing to protect her.
“The people and leaders in our
area went and saw the headless body of the father after the girl reported the
incident to the leaders and the people and told her story of why she had killed
her father,” said Kumi.
“The daughter did what she did
because of the trauma and the evil actions of her father so that is why we have
all agreed that she remains in the community.”
Violent crime, as well as
witchcraft, is rife in Papua New Guinea with the government last month voting
to revive the death penalty in a bid to deter offenders after a series of
high-profile grisly incidents.
Brutality against women,
including domestic violence and rape, is also endemic in the country. Over the
weekend, the Post-Courier reported that child prostitution is on the rise,
particularly in the capital Port Moresby where many new nightclubs have sprung
up. — AFP
Tags:
Papua New Guinea