A Magistrate at the Boroko District Court today raised concerns about the non-appearance of defendants in court when their cases are listed for mention.
Alex Kalandi, a senior magistrate who presides over Summary offense matters said he will be raising the issue at the next Magistrates and Police Prosecutors meeting at the end of the month regarding the non-appearance of defenders.
He said a lot of people are being charged over summary offences but do not appear in court.
“If there is no purpose of them coming to court then there is no purpose of them being charged,” he said.
Magistrate Kalandi also raised concerns over police exhibits or evidence that should be brought to court when a defendant has been arrested over an offense.
He made mention of exhibits like firearms which are taken by arresting officers but are not brought to court in some cases.
He said court exhibits such as firearms should be tendered in court with the rest of the court documents with police prosecution when the matter comes to court.
The magistrate made these comments when dealing with the case of Peter Arua, a defendant charged with being in possession of a rifle without a licence.
Arua failed to turn up in court today despite an arrest warrant issued by the court last year for his arrest.
It turned out the warrant issued by the court was never served on the arresting officer to execute on the defendant.