Unitech student shot dead!

There has been unrest on campus the last few days…

A student was shot last Friday evening at one of the local clubs (Club 140). What a waste of a life. The response by the student body has been one of anger and frustration. This is the 3rd student to die in recent years through similar circumstances. This morning the students decided to go out on strike for the remainder of this week and have submitted a petition to University Administration requesting for the re-establishment of licensed premises on campus. I believe that UNITECH management will not budge – it’s going to be interesting what ensues as the petition asks for the resignation of managament should their demands not be met.

Some photos that I took yesterday will be posted shortly. Got some great shots of the students mobilising with sticks, bush knives and iron bars and also from the picket line/barricade they set up at the main gate.

The situation is far from over but in the meantime close students, close friends and family will grieve the loss of their loved one.

Story as it appeared in yesterday’s National

By PETER KORUGL

A THIRD-year computer science student at the University of Technology in
Lae, Morobe province, was shot dead at the weekend.

Fellow students woke up last Saturday to hear the shocking news of the
killing of the young man from Baiyer in the Western Highlands province.

The body of the student is now at the Angau Memorial Hospital morgue. A
haus krai had been erected in front of the administration building, with
the student body in mourning.

According to reports, the deceased was with four other students who had
gone to a club at Tent Siti in the evening for a drink. There was a
dance at the club and the students stayed on.

The National was told that during the evening, the students allegedly
got into a fight with a group of youths from Tent Siti. As they were
leaving the club, the youths they had fought with waited in the dark and
attacked them.

“One of the attackers sneaked up on the deceased, pulled out a pistol
and shot him at close range at the back of his head. He died instantly,”
a student said.

When news of the death reached the Unitech campus, students mobilised
and raided the club, allegedly setting fire to a house before the police
moved in and dispersed them.

Classes at Unitech are expected to be suspended today.

Reports said the students would also petition the university
administration to lift the ban on the sale of alcohol on campus.

In a meeting last Saturday, they said this was the second such incident
where a student had died after going out to look for alcohol.

The first was in 2003 when a student was killed under similar
circumstances.

The university had banned the sale of alcohol on campus because of
unruly behaviour by drunken students.

Five more weeks remain before Unitech will end its academic year.