The Port Moresby police remain concerned with cases of sexual assault involving minors.
The NCD metropolitan superintendent says plans are already in place for policing strategies for 2019.
Chief superintendent Perou N’Dranou says the Police Commissioner’s annual conference late last year has given them the mandate to enforce changes.
He highlighted that one of the concern areas for 2018 was the sexual assault of minors.
“We’ve been working on it,” he said. “We saw some improvements at the end of the year (2018) and we tend to work more on it.”
N’Dranou has called on partners who were working with police on gender-based violence to continue cooperating with them on the issue of sexual assault as well.
The latest incident was reported in early December 2018, where police were concerned that a woman was deliberately attempting to stall an investigation into her daughter’s alleged abuse at the hands of a suspect who has a criminal past.
N’Dranou had appealed to the woman, who is believed to be based at Gerehu, to bring her 12-year-old daughter to the Family and Sexual Violence Unit at the Boroko Police Station to be referred for counselling and to complete the process of medical examinations.
To date, the woman is yet to report to the station.
N’Dranou says police have not forgotten about this case. They will continue to pursue it until the woman and the suspect are brought to justice.
He has further cautioned family members and guardians to be more careful as perpetrators of sexual assault are known, or close to, the family.