Find New Ways Of Obtaining Cybercrime Evidence

The Waigani Committal Court has found insufficient evidence to commit a 42-year-old man from Kompiam-Ambun, Enga Province for allegedly posting defamatory comments on Facebook against Finance Secretary Dr. Ken Ngangan.

Magistrate Paul Nii said the evidence is insufficient to commit John Simon Amaiu for the three counts of defamatory publication allegations under the Cyber Crime Code Act.

“I have come to a conclusion that the defendant is not accurately identified to be the person who is linked to the two Facebook accounts of Harry Saa and Sauwan Parange and the telephone number”.

Police alleged that Amaiu was using the name Harry Saa and posted a comment under the Kompiam Ambum Development Forum with the quote, “Who really is Dr Ken Ngangan? A wolf in a sheep skin and a small corruption tactician on 5th of February.

Furthermore, Police alleged that on February 25th, the post was shared by a Sauwan Parange onto the Kompiam Ambum Development forum. The same post was then shared on the PNG News Report Facebook page with the comments “These are some serious allegations that need investigation”.

The defendant was further accused of posting a comment saying, “Dr. Ken Ngangan will contest 2022 Kompiam Ambun open.

Police said the comments attracted mix reactions from the public thus have slandered the victim’s character and his standing in the community.

In his ruling, Magistrate Nii said he has not cited any evidence of search warrant saying the arresting officer did not clearly demonstrate the link between Amaiu’s phone number and the two fake accounts.

“Police have been using the normal practice of obtaining evidence when encountering issues of cyber in nature and that is obtaining information through search warrant.

“The search warrant would permit access to someone’s Facebook and email accounts”.

Further, the Magistrate said there should be new ways in collecting evidence for such cases because cybercrime is an emerging crime where it was realized in the 1990’s thus the enactment of Cyber Crime Code Act in 2016.

“The usual traditions and approaches by police in obtaining evidence for common crimes should not be applied for crimes under the cybercrime Code Act”, added Magistrate Nii.   

  

Author: 
Jemimah Sukbat