Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika

Sir Gibbs said this in court after the Bomana Jail Commander, Haraha Kiddy Keko, appeared before him to explain why certain prisoners were granted extended leave of absence periods and were serving the terms in hospitals and in tertiary institutions.

“Many people will regard this as unfair. The little people are serving time while the big people are doing that. Any prisoner should be treated the same. There is no special provision under law,” said Sir Gibbs.

This was highlighted at the close of the inaugural workshop on Human Rights for Judges in the PNG Judiciary and Federal Court of Australia.

The two-day workshop ended on Friday afternoon with judges encouraged to be at the forefront in ensuring everyone’s rights are upheld and protected. 

Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, in closing the workshop, said human rights are different from other constitutional rights and other laws.

Deputy Police Commissioner (operations) Jim Andrews assured the National Court today that the State’s key witness, who is the late Lapan Nason’s daughter, will be flown into Port Moresby on Tuesday.

He told the court that Police Commissioner Gary Baki authorised cheques this morning to arrange for late Lapan’s daughter to be flown in.

Commissioner Baki is said to be in Buka today and Andrews stepped in to explain to the court this afternoon, why the State’s key witness was not brought to Port Moresby in time for the commencement of the trial today.

Paul Steven, Samson Banaso, Hubert Korede, Stewart Korina and Gelison William were all convicted to one count each of conspiring to steal and stealing.

The robbery was committed between 9:30 and 10am on 4 October 2013, where armed men got away with 19 tins of cash containing K5.96m.

The monies were being transported from Maybank at Waigani to the Bank of Papua New Guinea when the armoured vehicle carrying the cash was diverted around Crown Plaza to the Touaguba Hill, arriving at a house in East Boroko where the cash was distributed. 

A Supreme Court bench consisting of five judges refused the application because it was incompetent and an abuse of the court process.

The court will now proceed to hear arguments from parties in the reference under section 18 (1) of the constitution. This will take place at a later time.

The application which was refused last Friday was filed on Oct 20.

The application asked the five-man Supreme Court bench to allow the Ombudsman Commission to include additional materials or facts into the reference book, to assist the court in its deliberation of the reference.

Joseph Wai was given a concurrent sentence of 4 years for two different charges, which the Waigani National Court found him guilty for.

He was recently convicted for conspiring with others to misappropriate K180,000. The monies misappropriated were from 781 grams of gold he got to see on behalf of Anna Sani, a local gold buyer in Wewak.

The gold was valued at AUD$36,000 which the court calculated to be equivalent to K180,000.

Tande Joseph and Peter Martin were studying law when they were involved in a drunken brawl with another student, which resulted in his death.

They were convicted by the Waigani National Court on April 15, 2015, and sentenced on August 21, 2015.

They were convicted for the manslaughter of Obediah Igish, a third year anthropology student.

Igish died as a result of the injuries sustained from the brawl at the University’s bus stop towards the end of the second semester of 2012.  

Margaret Ani of Pari village, Port Moresby, returned before Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika today to give an update to the court on her restitution progress.

Ani has so far repaid K13,500 and has an outstanding of K52,664.64 to repay before 1^st March, 2017.

Her lawyer told the court today that she has no formal employment and plans to sell her vehicle before Christmas to make further payment. Her husband is also assisting her with the restitution.

David Kaya and his lawyer, Philip Kamen, will stand trial in Daru on March 6, 2017.

They appeared for mention before Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, who agreed that the matter should be transferred to the Western Province as that is where most of the witnesses are based.

Kaya, who is a landowner representative, and Kamen are in court over allegations they misused K5 million, monies belonging to the landowners of East Awin in North Fly.

Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia, Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika and other judges received her honour’s casket at 2pm after it arrived on board PX 004 from Brisbane, Australia.

The late judge’s husband, John Arthur Davani, was pushed out in a wheelchair, along with family members behind the casket, to a crowd of mourners before member of the PNG Defence Force carried her honour’s casket behind the Correctional Service pipe band.

Her body was taken to the funeral home where it will be kept.