A man who received stolen monies of K322,660 from the May Bank robbery during transporting of cash by G4S guards on Oct 4, 2013 will serve five years in prison for being an accessory in the robbery.
Justice Panuel Mogish of the Waigani National Court sentenced 40- year- old Thomas Karo, of Aroma, Central Province to serve a term of 11 years in jail.
He later dedicated time spend in remand (three years, three months, one week and two days) from the sentence and further suspended two years for Karo to be placed on a two year good behaviour bond after he is released from custody.
He said this case is not where sentence will be wholly suspended ordering Karo to serve five years, eight months, two weeks and five days at the Bomana jail.
The amount of K322,660 Karo received was his share for transporting part of the proceeds from the robbery.
He transported K244, 360 that was contained in a box to the residence at the Konebada Petroleum Park. He told his friend that the box had some “magical stuff” in it and that he should not touch it and keep it out of the sight of his children as “it would affect their health”.
A further K78, 360 was found in his possession at his house at Taurama. Some of those monies were hidden in the walls of the house.
Karo pleaded guilty to receiving those stolen monies on July 20, 2016. He was the second accused to plead guilty to receiving stolen properties in the G4S robbery case.
The court was told on July 20, 2016 that Karo’s involvement was as a “bush doctor” who used witchcraft to cast spell and wash one of the vehicles used during the robbery to conceal it against Police.
He was given a substantial amount of money for his service however was found after 20 days being in possession of K322, 660.
He was arrested on Oct 26, 2013 and has been remanded at Bomana since.