A magistrate at the Waigani District Court refused an application to strike-out a Breaking and Entering and Stealing case due to the amount of money that was stolen and the involvement of dangerous arms.
The defense lawyer made the application to strike out the case due to the delay of the police in preparing the police hand-up brief.
The defendants, Leonard Martin and Michael Sebea, were charged with Breaking and Entering and Stealing properties worth more than K300,000. During the time of the alleged offense, bush knives and pistols were used.
They were arrested on the 28th of January and were later arraigned on the 29th of April 2024.
According to their Lawyer, they have been appearing in Court for almost four months now awaiting the police to present the police hand-up brief.
The lawyer through an application said such an offense should not take longer for the police to prepare the hand-up brief and asked the court to strike out the matter due to time spent appearing in court.
However, the Police Prosecutor Peter Samghy alleged that the offense involved dangerous arms, such as bush knives and pistols, and properties worth over K300,000 were stolen.
Samghy asked the court to consider section 37 of the constitution which applies to the interest of justice for the victims, meaning there has to be a balance in the matter.
The Prosecutor then made an application for the court to adjourn the matter.
When making his ruling on the matter Nii granted the application made by the Prosecutor and refused the application made by the defendant’s lawyer.
“The defense council made an application for the information to be struck out but the prosecutor objected to this application saying that bush knives and pistols were used at the time where the alleged offense took place.
“I consider both applications but for the interest of justice and fairness and taking into account how much was allegedly stolen, I refuse the application for the case to be struck out and I will have the case adjourned for two weeks,” Magistrate Nii said.
The matter will return on the 13th of May for mention.