WHERE IS BETTY PART 3

 

Beautiful hillsides, mountains and valleys in Simbu. Betty would have gazed at these in awe and wonder what lay beyond these towering peaks.

AN UNUSUAL DEATH FOR A BEAUTIFUL SOUL

By VICKY BAUNKE 

KENA Siwi has that faraway look in his eyes.

The kind of sad look that tells you of heart broken sadness that will search for answers for years to come.

Kena's heart beats with every why, every how, that might in the blink of an eye, turn his painful thoughts into something solid to hold onto, but that hope just fades into hopelessness with every passing hour.

It is every families nightmare to lose a loved one, especially someone as beautiful and loving as Betty Agua Bill.

Thoughts of the loss, the pain of the life ebbing away without any relative close by for comfort, stab at Kena. Tears stream down his well worn Simbu face.

“My sister died in a very unusual way,” a tearful Wena finally whispered. A mournful Kerowaghi chant escaped his soul. 

Why did this happen to you my child? You are so young? My child who played in the house, who ate 'kaukau' (sweet potato) from my fireplace. where are you my child? 

The mournful chant breaks from windy hillside. The chill of Kerowaghi no more. Sadness converges in a consuming way.

“We have heard about the increasing number of violent deaths of woman been reported throughout the country not knowing that we would experience such a death in our family for the first time.”

“Our case is different because we never knew of our sister’s death until one of our brothers Johnson Agua came to visit our sister while passing through from Lae to Chimbu. He came with food stuff for our sister and was dropped off at Henganofi."

Wena tells it from a broken heart 💔. If there is bitterness, it has been washed away by his sadness.

If there is loneliness, it has been shredded by his sorrows.

“My brother arrived at her home and began asking around her husband’s relatives and friends but no one seemed to know where our sister was, her husband was away for work during that time, my brother was troubled and got back on a PMV and travelled back to Chimbu.

“On his way back he overheard one of the passengers saying that a woman from Kerowaghi who was married to Henganofi was murdered and buried.

“That created more suspicions so my brother returned home and started searching at our village and contacting relatives everywhere only to discover that she was nowhere to be found."

Betty Agua Bill, 30, was allegedly killed and buried and her disappearance had gone unnoticed for a month before Johnson Agua noticed her missing and raised the alarm with police and other relatives in Chimbu province.

The late Betty Agua is believed to have had two children, a son who died in a miscarriage and one daughter who is currently missing, according to the deceased’s relatives.

A peace monument in Kafetina, Henganofi.

 

Her husband has been detained at the Goroka police station after he was arrested by police a week ago.

Kena Siwi said: "I was contacted in Wewak and that’s when I traveled to Chimbu and we filed a report with the  police station and that’s when the Chimbu provincial Police Commander (PPC) contacted the Eastern Highlands PPC and the Henganofi RPSC begun investigations.”

Gena said himself and a few of his brothers and the father of Betty went to Goroka and stayed for a week in search of their sister but to no avail. 

Then they received a phone call on Monday describing the location of where was buried.

When they tried calling back the number they could not get through so they just acted on the information provided by the unknown caller.

“We were accompanied by police and a few men from the PNGDF and there we discovered the body that was buried among bamboo near the riverside according to what the phone caller described,” he said.

“After discovering the body we told the community to prepare the body in a coffin for us to return the next day (Tuesday) and decide on proper burial arrangements for our late sister.

“We are disappointed at our loss, and the fact that none of the community members came forward to report the matter to police after more than a month, or no community leaders to address us.

“The only spokesperson of the village was the Pawa Ministry Church Pastor Kibbs Nick who stood in to talk on behalf of the community to initiate peace talks and purchase a coffin and other burial costs.

“We refuse to take the matter into our own hands and are thankful to the police in Eastern Highlands for arresting the suspect but we want justice to be served and certain demand to be met including a proper burial be given to our late sister.

“We are not able to take her body home to give her better burial because of the bad state of the body, this has been an ongoing problem in the country and now another PNG family have fallen victims to losing a female member to such a cruel, violent and animalistic death.

 “On behalf of the family, I would like to appeal to the appointed leaders in the community and district to come forward and ensure that justice is served and the laws are upheld in such violent killings, especially when left unreported.

 “We will return to see that our sister be given a proper burial and we want our leaders to also look into this matter seriously.”

Betty's makeshift grave under a clump of bamboo near the riverside.