A prominent business woman appeared at the Waigani District Court today after she was arrested and charged by police for using Facebook to post offensive, insulting and defamatory remarks against another woman.
52-year-old Janet Roland Sios, of Kabanut village, Namatanai district, New Ireland Province went before Magistrate Mekeo Gauli this morning with her lawyer, where her charges were read and explained to her in court.
Magistrate Gauli after reading the charge adjourned her case to Tuesday, Nov 29. Police will now have three months to investigate and produce its investigation files against Sios, or what is called a hand-up brief.
This has been the practice of the Committal Court process and before the court can decide if it has enough evidence against Sios.
Her name was called last Friday, Oct 28 by police prosecutors but she didn’t appear in court as she was not informed.
She was arrested on July 1st this year at the Boroko Police station for using an ICT service, Facebook to post offensive, insulting and defamatory remarks to her Facebook friends for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to a Lady Nii Cragnolini.
These allegedly took place between September 15 and October 1, 2015.
She was charged under section 266(1)(b)(ii) of the National Information and Communication Technology (NICTA) Act.
The complainant, Lady Nii Cragnolini of L&A group of companies, reported the matter to police on March 7 this year after an unsuccessful civil proceeding against Sios.