The lawyer representing refugee Loghman Sawari has moved an application before Waigani District Court that his client has no case to answer to because police prosecution have not proven their case in the trial.
Police prosecution have been given until April 4 to respond to the Defence no case submission.
If the court accepts the no case submissions by Sawari’s lawyer, the case will not proceed to hear evidence by him and the case will be dismissed. However if the court rules in favour of police prosecution and its evidence, the trial will continue for Sawari to give evidence.
Loani Henao who is representing the refugee who was deported from Fiji on February 3, asked the grade 5 court to dismiss the case which has gone for trial in the district court.
The case went on trial on Monday morning with police prosecution presenting its case with the assistance of three witnesses.
Two of the witnesses are employees of the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority. One of those was the officer who issued Sawari’s passport application after it was approved.
The third witness was the police arresting officer however this witness evidence was refused because Sawari was not accorded his right under section 42 of the Constitution to access a lawyer before he was questioned on his arrival at the Jacksons International Airport on February 3.
Henao said in court yesterday that there was no attempt by PNG Immigration to bring the PNG Passport that was used by Sawari as this was a significant piece of evidence.
This PNG Passport, number 133854 was obtained from alleged falsified information that was produced in the passport application form last year.
He went on to say there were serious facts of matters that have not been addressed in court by police prosecution.
He said there is no evidence of "falsified information" provided either in oral or writing, what statements were falsified and also no evidence of Sawari being the author of falsified statement for purpose of applying for passport.
“The prosecution has to provide evidence. At this stage, the type of evidence should be whether the court could on the evidence convict the defendant.
He said the prosecution fell short to produce evidence of elements of the charge, mainly section 16 of Passport Act.
“The case is not strong enough for court to call upon defendant to respond,”Henao added.
His bail of K1,000 has been extended and he is to continue reporting to the Waigani District Court registry.
The 21-year-old was arrested and charged for providing false information for the purpose of obtaining a PNG passport from the PNG Immigration and Citizen Services Authority, a charge that falls under section 16 (1) of the Passport Act of 1982.
He allegedly used false identification to obtain travel documents which he used to leave PNG for Fiji.
Summary of facts before the court says he used a passport bearing the name Junior Charles Sawari to travel to Fiji. The passport was obtained through a consultant, Junior Aisa, who allegedly submitted the falsified information to Immigration on July 8, 2016. A fee of K1,000 was paid to Aisa for this service.
That passport was released from the PNG Immigration on Aug 2, 2016, and collected by Aisa.
Sawari arrived in PNG from Christmas Island in 2013 as a 17-year-old seeking asylum. He was processed in Manus and given a refugee status.