Two Police officers will stand for trial at the Waigani National Court for unlawfully assaulting a 20-year-old female over a stolen mobile phone.
First Constable Onesmus Kiki attached to the Waigani Police Station and Senior Constable Dunstan Wunum attached to the Boroko Police Station appeared before the Waigani Committal Court on Tuesday, 6th of February, 2024.
They were committed by the Committal Court to stand for trial at the National Court due to sufficient evidence by the Police Prosecutor.
It was alleged that on Wednesday 7th of December 2022 between 9:00am and 3:00pm, the two police officers including another police officer drove to the victim’s residence at Morota 1 in a police hire vehicle to pick up the 20-year-old victim from her parent's house.
Wunum was the driver, Kiki who is the owner of the stolen phone was the offsider and another officer sat at the back of the vehicle
When she came out from her house she was told by Kiki to return his phone that allegedly went missing from his house at Morota 2 while the victim and three others were cleaning the house the previous day.
She responded by saying she did not have the phone but the accused went further to assault her.
It was alleged that the victim was taken to the back of the UPNG Campus, following an off-road track from the Gerehu/Morota back-road side. She was told to get off the vehicle to which she complied.
The defendant and his accomplices then threatened her over the phone again and Kiki fired a gunshot at her toes, unfortunate she jumped and the bullet missed her toes.
They then took her to Morota swamp, and along the way, she was subjected to more verbal abuse, threatening and physical beating. The police officers then stopped the car and told the victim to strip naked. As she was in the process of removing her clothes they told her to stop.
It was alleged that the other officer then opened the victim's front dress and spit betel-nut spittle into her bra and did the same to the back of her dress.
He then took a bush knife and cut off her hair from the front to the back leaving only a handful at the back head.
Kiki was charged with two offences for unlawfully assaulting the accused for hitting her with a hard subject contravening to section 6 (3) of the Summary Offence Act, and Wunum was charged for unlawfully depriving the accused of her liberty against her will contravening section 355 (b) of the Criminal Code Act.
Magistrate Laura Wawun Kuvi who presided over the case said that there are admissions in the police hand-up brief that clearly states that the police officers are allegedly involved in committing this assault.
“Under sections 7 and 8 of the criminal code which means that if all of you are together and if the other person was not involved with the group, and because you are all police officers you should be in a better position to stop your colleague for committing the offence demonstrate to the court that there was an intend or a common purpose to commit that offence,” Magistrate Kuvi said.
She told the police officers that the findings did not find them guilty of this alleged offence, rather there is sufficient evidence to proceed to the National Court for trial.
The Magistrate then ruled that the matter returns to the National Court for trial on the 20th of February 2024.