DAUGHTER ESCAPES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

When the fantasy K5 million arrives, the father does not need to pay bride price. These days too many young women are murdered by drunken bums claiming to be husbands.

My second daughter Lisa has had the trauma of her life. She is 20 years old and never been mistreated as a child.

She has a beautiful little son Jonathan who is mixed race and looks just like his grandfather. She was living with me in Lae and attending Busu High School where she completed grade 10.

She went to visit her sister who had just become a widow and came back to Lae pregnant. She had met an old boyfriend.

The boy refused to make any contact with her father and hung up the phone if I answered his calls. He thought that making her pregnant was only his business. Not a good sign for the future.

Lisa gave birth at Lae. She was attended at the hospital by her father and a herd of her aunties and cousins. Her father paid all the bills for the next 15 months.

There was never a word from the boy in Port Moresby. He did not give any money from that time until now.

When the little boy was 14 months old, Lisa took him to Port Moresby to spend Christmas with her sister. They used to fight and argue but are still closely bonded.

The so-called father is about 23 years old and unemployed. He lives with his parents who have no income.

His father used to be principal of Erima School before the school was closed under dubious circumstances. There is an unconfirmed report that he was Director of a gold mine but is no longer working there.

The parents arrived at my elder daughter’s apartment and claimed that the child had to be handed over to them as they had custody.

The fact was that no bride price had ever been paid which is important in this country to share with people who looked after Lisa as a child.

The family has no claim on Lisa or the baby. She was certainly not a wife to this small unemployed boy.

This so-called father was not on the Birth Certificate. Lisa was waiting until he showed himself in looking after the child but there was total silence. The baby took the name of the grandfather.

They arrived at the apartment in December and took the baby. Lisa had no choice but to follow them. She worked hard at the house and was treated by the mother as the house girl.

They claimed total authority over the little boy. Lisa was most unhappy not to be given any money to look after the baby.

She started to ask her father in Lae for maintenance money. This was bride price in reverse.

Two weeks ago, she started to earn money by marketing on a table in the street outside the house. She obtained K250 from her father and sister to buy lollies, drinks and food.

But it all came to an end when the drunken small boy father arrived and started an argument about money. He punched Lisa in the face and smashed up the table and sale goods.

Lisa rushed into the house and grabbed her small son, leaving all sale goods and money in the dirt. When the coast was clear, she ran down the road and caught a bus to her sister’s house.

The unemployed mother, father and drunken son demanded the child to be returned or they would have her arrested by the police. They would obtain custody in Court – in their dreams.

It was time for the big gun to open fire. I texted to them that they had no standing whatever with no bride price or name on Birth Certificate. That is PNG culture.

The mother screamed and shouted that I had no right to call her son a violent, drunken, unemployed bum.

I hung up the call when she started screeching like a cockatoo. A few minutes later the father phoned and denied all that had happened and called Lisa a liar.

He said they would obtain custody through the Court. I said I would be there with my daughter.

I would talk to the magistrate about the income of my elder daughter and me to look after Lisa and son, comparing with the unemployed status of the silly plaintiffs who are seeking a free ride.

I warned the father to leave the boy with the mother, suggesting that his son have visiting rights every two weeks with maintenance money of K150 a fortnight for upkeep of the boy.

I told him that if the boy is kidnapped, there will be an assault complaint laid on the son for punching my daughter.

I asked how the son would be employed in years to come if unable to obtain a Police Clearance because of assault conviction.

The father had told Lisa that bride price would be paid when the Government pays him K5 million in compensation.

Is that for being removed as principal of a Primary School? It sounds like rubbish to delay any demand for bride price.

How can an unemployed father, mother and son take custody of a baby when they have no legal or customary standing?

They are unemployed and have no direct income. They have contributed nothing to the present time.

Now I hear that they want to take the baby and kick the mother out. In their wildest dreams. I do not even know their names. This family is quite primitive.

The father told me he did not want Lisa to marry his son. I told him I did not want his son to marry Lisa. She no longer trusts him after his violent attack. Too many drunken men kill wives these days. My daughter will not be the next victim.