P.N.G. gang stones foreigners

Press, 12 October 1983, Page 33

P.N.G. gang stones foreigners

NZPA Port Moresby A gang of 20 youths attacked a group of foreigners, including several New Zealanders, on a weekend family picnic, smashing and looting cars at a popular beach near Papua New Guinea’s capital. Stones and beer bottles were hurled at the eight adults and seven children. They were also threatened with knives and sharpened sticks.

Mr Bernard Parker, aged 33, a New Zealand computer systems analyst with Air Niugini, said they managed to get the children into a four-wheel-drive car and escape when the youths were distracted by another car. The Sunday picnic began much like others before at Gabagaba Beach about 70km from Port Moresby. The New Zealanders, Australians, Britons, and Americans at first saw only five youths emerge from the bush.

These were joined by 15 others, all of them armed, and they started smashing the cars and threatening the families. “In the heat of the moment I was not terrified. I was worried which way the situation would turn,” Mr Parker said. Three other cars at the beach saw the attack and took off. The youths started throwing stones and beer bottles at the children, then began systematically to des-

troy the two station waggons. Front and rear windscreens were smashed and the contents of the vehicles looted. Mr Parker said the daughter of an American, Mr Gerry Hackett, was threatened with a knife, and “very serious and definite improper suggestions” were made to his wife. Mr Parker said his station waggon had sustained several thousand dollars worth of damage. Mr John Talbot, a Briton, the owner of the other station waggon, would have a similar repair bill. “The sad thing about it is most of the people here are really nice,” Mr Parker said. “It’s that other 1 per cent, and you don’t know who that 1 per cent is. “Last time we went to Gabagaba there were five cars. Each of us was stopped by a utility and they gave us a watermelon each. When we asked how much they said it was a gift.”

The attack at Gabagaba, in which there were no serious injuries, is the latest in a series of up to now minor incidents.

Many visitors to the coconut palm grove at the beach have reported thefts from cars and stone-throwing. One report suggests there is a feud between two villages in the area which is causing tension.