Accused persons arrested and charged for offences have a right under the constitution to have their cases dealt by the court in a reasonable time.
Magistrate Ben Kome of the Central Committal Court issued the reminder when striking out a case against four accused, saying section 37 of the constitution applies to all.
The case had been in court since February this year, and seven months later, the arresting officer failed to compile an investigation file to assist the court.
By practice, after an accused is arrested, four months is given to police to investigate and compile its investigation files. This was not done after seven months.
The accused; Louise Tau (25) of Hula, Rigo, Tau Kulu (43) of Kalo, Rigo, Loi Elias (43) of Hula, Rigo and Edward Aisi (43) of Yule Island, Kairuku, all had their cases struck out.
They were arrested on February 16 and charged with wilful damaging of properties in a house belonging to Micheal Vele and Marcillia Gele.
This was after they allegedly destroyed properties in a house on Sunday 1 January at around 1.30am, amounting to K33,397.25 in total damage, and also walked off with K1,465 worth of goods.
Police allege it took them only 30 minutes to destroy properties in the house.
These allegations were not pursued further by the arresting officer, as no investigation files or instructions were given in the case to police prosecution to indicate a progress since the arrest.