Mum grieving for son

By REBECCA KUKU
WIDOW Maria Neap is mourning the death of her public servant son James Talin Neap, the third eldest of her seven children, saying she wants justice for his “senseless” killing.
“He was my strength, my pride. He was fair. He was loving and caring. And now just like that, he’s gone, leaving behind a four-year-old boy,” she said.
“I keep thinking, you know, my parents are still alive. I have not yet buried them. So how can I (be burying) my son (already)?”
Police in Port Moresby yesterday confirmed that they had arrested and detained James’ wife, understood to be a fourth-year law student, in connection with the tragic incident last weekend in the Rainbow suburb.
James, 30, from Enga, was working as a welfare officer with the Department of Community Development and Religion.
He was believed to have been stabbed in the neck and died shortly after he was taken to hospital. Maria said she could not believe that her son was gone.
She retired from the National Broadcasting Corporation after working there for 29 years.
And after the passing of her husband three years ago, she was depending on James and her two elder children to help raise their three younger siblings.
Maria was at Bush Wara, Nine-Mile, when her daughter called her at around 9am on Saturday, telling her that James had been stabbed.
“I came late.
He passed away at 10.32am on Saturday.
“The doctor said he lost a lot of blood,” she said.
“I never got to say goodbye.
“When I arrived, he was dead.
“I came home to see his dead body lying there as people cried.
“I just lost my mind.
“I have not stopped crying because I still cannot accept it’s real, that he’s gone.” In James’ extended family, he had many “mothers” and 20-plus “siblings”.
A family spokesperson reiterated Maria’s demand for justice, calling on the family of James’ wife to share the cost of repatriating his body to Enga for burial.