A man currently standing trial in the Waigani National Court will still answer to the charge of murder after the court today dismissed an application moved by his lawyer.
The no-case submission was moved after all of the state’s witnesses were called and it closed its evidence in the trial.
Erave man Jerry Turi’s lawyer asked the court to stop the trial halfway and acquit him, citing the state did not produce enough evidence to convict him.
The court found there was enough evidence to proceed with the trial and dismissed his application.
He will return to court next Tuesday, where the court will hear his side of the case through the witnesses he intends to call.
Turi, of Southern Highlands Province, is standing trial over allegations he murdered Tapi Max Mekeo using a metal stool, over suspicions the deceased put a curse on his son.
The incident took place on the morning of November 24, 2015, at the Eight-Mile settlement, Port Moresby.
They had been drinking with others from the early hours of that day when a fight broke out between them.
It is the state’s allegation that Turi’s son asked his father for bus fare that morning on his way to school. When he indicated he had no money, Mekeo gave him K3 for bus fare, later encouraging him to work hard in school.
The suspicious father then accused Mekeo for curing his son, and smashed a beer bottle on his head.
He allegedly did so, saying he previously lost two children, which was done by the child’s mother’s people.
State further alleged Turi hit the deceased on the head with an iron rod, resulting in blood spattering on impact from the rod.
The trial judge, in reading the allegations against him, said Turi later licked off the blood that spattered from the deceased on his hand, uttering “I have killed him, now I drink his blood” in Tok Pisin.
He was rushed to the Port Moresby General Hospital and was admitted at the Intensive Care Unit till his passing on 17 December 2015.