Content warning: This story discusses rape and violence.

Police in Papua New Guinea have arrested nine more men in connection with the rape and murder of a Port Moresby woman.

The arrests, announced by Police Commissioner David Manning, follow a two-week investigation supported by forensic experts from the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Margaret Gabriel, 32, was abducted from her home at Port Moresby’s Watermark Estate by more than 20 armed men. She was was later raped and murdered.

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The attack sparked nationwide outrage, with calls for stronger protections for women and faster justice in gender-based violence cases.

Commissioner Manning confirmed the suspects were apprehended on February 27 and subjected to DNA and fingerprint testing.

“DNA evidence and fingerprints are conclusive forensic evidence and afford irrefutable evidence to ensure convictions in a court of law,” he said.

The nine men join three others already in custody, though police have not clarified their specific roles in the crime.

Forensic analysis
AFP forensic specialists from Canberra assisted PNG’s Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) in analysing evidence.

Manning praised the collaboration, saying it underscored the integration of these advanced investigative techniques into PNG’s investigations is strengthening the cases put before the court.

Gender-based violence remains pervasive in PNG, with a 2023 UN report noting that more than two-thirds of women experience physical or sexual abuse in their lifetimes.

Limited forensic resources and slow judicial processes have historically hampered prosecutions.

Police increasingly rely on international partnerships, including a longstanding forensics programme with Australia, to address these gaps.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Hamas stages elaborate ceremonies for the release of Israeli captives in Gaza in a bid to signal they are responsible stakeholders by “showing the whole world that they were trying to keep them alive — keep them safe”, an analyst says.

Before the release of six captives in yesterday’s seventh round of exchanges, Professor Sami Al-Arian of Istanbul Zaim University said the handover spectacles also doubled as a way for the group to preempt Israeli efforts to frame the narrative.

“They’re showing the whole world the conditions and also that this is going to be done in a very responsible way,” Professor Al-Arian told Al Jazeera.

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Five Israeli captives held by Hamas were handed over to the Red Cross (ICRC) at two different locations — Rafah in southern Gaza and Al Nuseirat refugee camp in central City — and returned to Israel in exchange for the release of an expected more than 600  Palestinian prisoners, including one who had been imprisoned for 40 years and many others who had never been charged.

A sixth Israeli captive was also released in Gaza City later without ceremony.

The last handover in this first phase of the three-phase ceasefire will end next Saturday with the return of the remains of four dead captives.

However, there has been a delay in the release of Palestinian prisoners without explanation and Hamas have accused Israel of a “blatant violation” and “procrastination and stalling tactics”.

“The [Israeli] occupation’s failure to comply with the release of the seventh batch of prisoners in the exchange deal at the agreed-upon time constitutes a blatant violation of the agreement,” said Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif al-Qanou in a statement.

News media have been reporting that the release of the prisoners was on hold pending a security meeting of the Israeli government.

Al Jazeera reports that the Prime Minister’s Office later issued a statement saying that the release of more than 600 Palestinian detainees planned for Saturday had been delayed “until the release of the next hostages is guaranteed, and without the degrading ceremonies” at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza.

Discussing US President Donald Trump’s plan to force Palestinians to leave Gaza — which he has now reframed as a “recommendation”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political manoeuvring, and a recent Arab leaders’ plan for the reconstruction of the besieged enclave, Professor Al-Arian said any Arab initiative would work to Trump’s advantage.

“I think that’s probably [Trump’s] intention, to get the Arabs to move,” he said.

“Because his real intention is to make sure that Hamas will not be in power in Gaza after this is over, he doesn’t want an resumption of the war, this is going to actually divert him from his agenda, domestically and internationally.”

Hamas condemned Netanyahu’s “procrastination and stalling tactics” and described the delay as a “blatant violation” of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

LIVE updates https://t.co/ovPUWrBQSW

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 23, 2025

Shiri Bibas’s body identified
Meanwhile, in a statement posted on the Bring Bibas Back Instagram account, the Bibas family has now said experts at Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine have positively identified Shiri Bibas’s body.

Hamas delivered another coffin to the Red Cross on Friday reportedly containing the remains of Israeli captive Shiri Bibas, after Israel had accused the group of returning an unidentified person in her place in a mix-up during Thursday’s handover.

The bodies of her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, had been identified along with a fourth captive, 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, by forensic experts on Thursday.

Relatives of the Bibas family have rejected attempts to politicise the deaths.

The family’s statement blamed the deaths on the Israeli government, saying it had failed to act in time and was ultimately accountable.

Hamas has claimed the family was killed along with Palestinians in an Israeli bombing attack while being held captive in Gaza.

“There was apparently a mixup, and according to Palestinian groups, that probably happened after the Israeli bombardment of the site in which the captives were held,” reports Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan.

Hamas were investigating and promised a report on the circumstances of the mistake.

A woman has been arrested for the alleged murder of two young children whose remains were discovered in suitcases in Manurewa, South Auckland, last month.

New Zealand police can now confirm that a 42-year-old woman has been arrested in South Korea.

Counties Manukau CIB detective inspector Tofilau Fa’ amanuia Vaaelua said South Korean authorities arrested the woman today on a Korean arrest warrant on two charges of murder relating to the two young victims.

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The arrest warrant was issued by the Korean courts as a result of a request by NZ police for an arrest warrant under the extradition treaty between New Zealand and the Republic of Korea.

He said NZ police had applied to have her extradited back to New Zealand to face the charges and had requested she remain in custody while awaiting the completion of the extradition process.

“To have someone in custody overseas within such a short period of time has all been down to the assistance of the Korean authorities and the coordination by our NZ Police Interpol staff,” he said.

There were a number of enquiries to be completed both in New Zealand and overseas, he added.

Police said the children, believed to be aged between five and 10 years old, may have been hidden in the suitcases in an Auckland storage yard for several years.

The bodies were discovered on 11 August 2022 after a Clendon Park family won an auction for abandoned goods in a storage unit, without realising what was inside.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A Papua New Guinea court has given police three more weeks to submit their evidence against Bosip Kaiwi, who is accused of the murder of his partner in a high-profile case that shocked the nation – or their defence lawyer will be allowed to apply that it be dismissed.

Kaiwi, 25, of Minj, South Waghi, Jiwaka, appeared in court for the third time yesterday since his arrest on June 25.

He is charged with the wilful murder of his partner, Jenelyn Kennedy, the mother of their two children, on June 23 in Port Moresby.

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Magistrate Tracy Ganaii yesterday told police prosecutor Chief Sergeant Polon Koniu at the Committal Court in Waigani that the three months normally given to police to complete investigations would end on September 30.

She therefore adjourned the case to October 1.

Koniu submitted in a court a letter from investigating officer Detective Senior Constable Yaku Gwampom seeking another adjournment.

Covid-19 delays
Gwampom explained in the letter that the investigation was taking a long time because of the covid-19 social distancing restrictions and that he needed more time to:

• Get a doctor’s affidavit and interview one more doctor;
• Get photos and statements from the forensic crime scene examiner;
• Complete editing of statements;
• Get statements from other witnesses; and
• Get CCTV footage from the Port Moresby General Hospital.

Kaiwi’s lawyer, Samuel Inisi, of Inisi Lawyers did not object to the adjournment but indicated that he would submit “appropriate applications” on October 1 if police files were still not ready then.

Magistrate Ganaii said she allowed the adjournment because the three months police were allowed to complete investigations had not lapsed.

“If a case goes past three months, by practice, the defendant is automatically entitled to be discharged, unless the prosecutor have very good reasons to justify why there should be a further adjournment,” she said.

‘More work needed’
“The court has received that letter and considered that there is more work to be done on the investigations.”

She noted defence lawyer Inisi’s comments that he could ask the court that Kaiwi be discharged for want of police file on October 1.

“The court will consider the application when it’s made at the appropriate time,” she said.
Kaiwi was alleged to have tortured his partner between June 18 and 23.

She died on June 23 after five days of alleged assault.

Her body was left at the Port Moresby General Hospital where a doctor pronounced her dead.

Kaiwi was arrested and charged on June 25.

The Pacific Media Centre republishes The National articles with permission.

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