A Papua New Guinea man allegedly hiding two young Solomon Islands’ children in his custody is a serving senior government official in PNG’s East Sepik Province, it has emerged.
Joshua Himina is the District Administrative Officer at Maprik District,” Jack Siwainao – the father of the two young girls – told Solomon Star yesterday.
Solomon Islands High Commissioner to PNG, William Soaki, briefed Dr. Siwainao on investigation being undertaken on the matter in Port Moresby on Friday 9th December.
High Commissioner Soaki told Dr Siwainao that the PNG Immigration Investigation confirmed that the two children are with Mr. Joshua Himina. PNG authorities are waiting for the formal report.
“From our discussion, the investigation involves those who broke the laws of PNG with regards to legal documents surrounding my children. I think while the investigation is on, I am calling for the return of my kids as soon as possible.
“As a father, their safety is my paramount concern,” Dr. Siwainao who last spoke to his daughters on video link on 22nd August this year.
“Since the death of their mother on 10th September this year, I have not been allowed to talk to them,” Dr. Siwainao told Solomon Star yesterday.
Despite his appeal to contact his daughters 21 days ago today (12 December), Dr. Siwainao said he had not been able to speak with his daughters.
In his initial appeal, Dr. Siwainao pleaded with authorities both in Solomon Islands and PNG to facilitate the safe return of his two daughters – Mercy Aninono Siwainao aged 9 and Cinderella Aroahia Siwainao aged five. Until fake PNG passports were created for them, the two children traveled to PNG on Solomon Islands Passports.
“I fear (for) the safety of my helpless daughters without their mum, in the hands of a Sepik man, in a dangerous city like Port Moresby,” he said in a letter to the PNG Chief Migration Officer, Stanis Hulahau on 21st November this year.
His letter to Chief Migration Officer Hulahau followed representations on his behalf to the PNG Prime Minister James Marape.
Dr Siwainao is Solomon Islands’ consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the National Referral Hospital.
He worked at the Port Moresby General Hospital after he graduated in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology from the University of PNG as an undergraduate and post-graduate student.
“Whilst working there, we saw rape cases every day at the Gynae Clinic, including girls with the age group of my daughters and even younger. The perpetrators are usually known to the children,” Dr. Siwainao said.
The rallying cry behind Dr. Siwainao is gaining momentum but not at a pace that Dr. Siwainao would like to see.
Dr. Siwainao said he could not visit his daughters due to the border closure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have learned that my wife had moved on with Joshua Himina who is from Sepik, and works as an administrator in Maprik.
“In early 2020, my wife told me over the phone that she had made fake PNG passports for our daughters without my knowledge or consent with the change of birthplace to Buka Hospital, North Solomons, instead of Honiara, Solomon Islands,’ Dr Siwainao said.
“In January 2022, she had again told me that she had changed the surname of our daughters from Siwainao to Himina (the surname of her new partner). He said he was not even allowed to speak to his daughters while this was going on.
Dr. Siwainao said he even received threat (messages) from his late wife’s family in his attempt to get to his kids.
“I was not allowed to talk to my daughters after the death of their mother. I have messaged Joshua Himina to get my daughters from him, but he claimed after being officially married to my wife, he is the legitimate father to my daughters.”
Grace and Joshua signed a marriage certificate at the PNG Courts on 9th August 2022 – a month before she died at the Port Moresby General Hospital on 10th September this year.
Dr. Siwainao said he had also made calls on social media to Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Attorney General John Muria Jnr but there had been no response from both men.
Solomon Islands High Commissioner to PNG, is understood to be liaising with PNG officials on the matter. Dr. Siwainao has also written to the PNG High Commissioner to Solomon Islands but there has been no response at all, he said.
By Alfred Sasako
