A man from Warakum in the Western Highlands Province has been acquitted by the Waigani National court from allegations of forgery after the state’s evidence fell short for the court to convict him.
Murray Willie stood trial in court after he pleaded not guilty to fourteen counts of false pretense, where he was alleged to have obtained K558, 000 for false pretense.
He was also charged with three counts of forgery, for allegedly drawing three cheques under the Department of National Planning for the amounts of K55,000, K1.9m and K4.5 m respectively.
It is alleged that between Aug 8 and Oct 2, 2015, in Port Moresby, Willie, while in the company of others, by false pretense presented fake cheques to Mose Kapioto, the owner of a lodge, pretending to be employees of the Department of National Planning.
He allegedly did so, and got services provided to him by the lodge.
The state called in a total of six witnesses who gave evidence against Willie.
Among those witnesses was Kopyoto, the lodge owner and the investigating officer, Samson Ipara however their case was based wholly on circumstantial evidence.
The state had to establish each of the elements of each alleged offense, which had to be beyond reasonable doubt.
The court however saw that there was no evidence that Willie made false representations to the lodge owner, nor was there evidence that he forged any documents in writing.
Court concluded that Kopyoto did not identify Willie to be the man, he was communicating with over the phone regarding those fake cheques.
The court acquitted Willie accordingly.