District Court

Ruling on evidence soon for Aki

A ruling is expected next Monday, Aug 29 at the Bomana court house.

Arrested on January 5 this year and charged for the willful murder of his wife, 38 year old Aki, who is from Tambul in the Western Highlands province.

He first appeared in court on January 7 and has been detained at Bomana since. 

It is alleged he assaulted his wife at the Kone Tigers oval in the view of onlookers following an argument on December 26, around 3pm last year.

Men in court for causing bodily harm

49-year-old Sisa Ware of Laiagam district, Enga Province, and Samson Aiyete, 40, of Lufa village, Eastern Highlands Province, appeared in court this week after they hit a man, known to the court as Steven Fameso.

They appeared at the Waigani Committal Court where the charge against them was explained before the case was adjourned to September.

The court heard that Aiyete swung a fencing metal rod at the victim (Fameso), hitting his back, neck and head.

Mowana’s sexual assault case struck out

Mowana was arrested on May 9 over allegations of sexual assault in the work place that took place some three years ago. He first appeared in court on May 12.

The matter was struck out for want of prosecution after the investigating officer failed to produce investigation files within three months. It was also struck out after no information came to court regarding the progress of the investigations.

Sufficient evidence against Cops in condom video case

A ruling on whether the court has sufficient evidence against Probationary police officers, 22-year-old Joshua Yawijah of Maia village, Pangia, Southern Highlands Province, and 23-year-old Jacklyn Tanda of Sakarip village, Wabag, Enga Province was done this morning.

The two officers are allegedly involved in forcing a woman to swallow two condoms at the Boroko Police Station on Dec 4,2015. The woman was forced to swallow two condoms after she was forced to empty the belongings in her bag onto a table. Seven male condoms were found on her.

Vaki case dismissed by court

He was in court, charged with conspiring to defeat the course of justice. This is the second case against the former police commissioner on the same charges. They both revolve around the same allegations.

The case was dismissed by Magistrate Cosmas Bidar after he found that the police prosecution team had been relying on the same set of evidence that was presented in court back in 2014.

The Committal Court found that evidence was insufficient to commit Vaki to stand trial at the National Court.

District Court refuses Immigration application to hand over passport

The court today ruled that Immigration and the chief migration officer had no standing in their application and refused to grant orders to hand over the passport of businessman, Peter Ling Koh Woo, so he can be deported.  

Woo was allegedly ordered by the chief migration officer to be deported from the country within seven days of the notice being served. His lawyer, Greg Sheppard, told the court last week that his client was never served the order.   

Court to rule on judge’s case next month

Sir Bernard returned to court on Thursday for mention. His lawyer, Loani Henao, moved an application to dismiss the criminal proceeding on May 9.  The matter returned for mention where Fraud Prosecutor Michael Awagl responded to Henao’s application.

Sergeant Michael Awagl told the court the informant followed procedure before the arrest of Sir Bernard. 

However Henao maintained that the prosecution does not have the legal foundation to commence prosecution against Sir Bernard, who is a judicial office holder.

Ruling expected soon on human trafficking case

Police prosecution have completed and served the accused, Willie Gare, a hand out brief of their investigations.

The matter is now ready for the court to make its ruling at the end of June. The 42-year-old Gumini man was arrested and charged on Nov 9 last year at Kundiawa and had his case transferred to Port Moresby.

Gare was charged for one count of unlawfully confining eight females and a male, one count of exploitation and one count of sexually penetrating one of the victims at Kundiawa town.

The victims involved are from Lealea village in Central Province.

No record of victim’s age sees sex case dismissed

The two men were charged with sexually penetrating a 13-year-old girl on July 6, 2014, in Port Moresby. However, that case was dismissed today.

The court in dismissing the case for insufficient evidence said in instances of offence committed under section 229(a) of the PNG Criminal Code, sexual offences and crimes against children’s act, evidence of the complainant’s age is an important feature.

Police still investigating condom swallowing incident

The accuseds Joshua Yawijah (22) of Maia village, Pangia, Southern Highlands Province and female probationary officer, 23-year-old Jacklyn Tanda of Sakarip village,Wabag, Enga Province both returned to court this morning.

They briefly appeared before Magistrate Cosmas Bidar and their case was adjourned to next month to give police time to investigate more.

They were charged for one count of deprivation of personal liberty, two counts of forcing someone to do indecent acts and one count of abuse of office.