Waigani District Court

Men Face Robbery Charges

Justin Neve, 28 from Tari Southern Highlands Province, Mafu Daul 29 from Lufa, Eastern Highlands and Moses Eremend, 27 from Wabag Enga Province were accused of stealing K21,487 worth of property from Phone Tech Limited at 8 Mile in Port Moresby on September 8th.

Since their arrest on the same day of the robbery, they have been in custody at the Boroko Police cells.

It is alleged that at around 1pm on September 8th, the three co-accused drove a sedan into the Phone Tech Limited and parked outside.

Court refuse Fr Jan’s bail

Magistrate Tracey Ganai said she was not satisfied on reasonable grounds that Fr Jan had interfered with the state witness while he was on bail for charges of official corruption and abuse of office.

The State prosecutor had submitted that Fr. Jan had interfered with a key witness and complainant Sebastian Bosco by having him arrested over a cyber-related matter.

Meanwhile, the submission on sufficiency of evidence on Fr. Jan’s case will return on the 13th of May 2021.

Fr. Jan is currently on a K3, 000 bail.

Paraka Cleared

The decision was handed down today by Magistrate Ernest Wilmot and brings to end a long legal tussle between Paraka and the state.

After seven years of a long drawn out legal battle, the Waigani District Court today dismissed all 22 criminal charges levelled against lawyer Paul Paraka.

The charges are in relation ‘purported legal bills’.

The 22 criminal charges include; 10 counts of Conspiracy to Defraud, six counts of Stealing by False Pretense, three counts of Misappropriation/Dishonestly Applying, and three counts of Money Laundering.

Schram case dismissed

The case has been dismissed six months after the National Court allowed him to temporarily leave the country and return by June 12, 2018.

The District Court issued a warrant for his arrest soon after he failed to return by June 12 last year.

That warrant was revoked yesterday and Magistrate Alex Kalandi discharged the false pretence allegations against Schram, because the court has no information of his whereabouts.

Former MP appears in court

His case is now undergoing the Committal Court process at the District Court.

Amaiu was charged with seven counts of conspiracy to defraud and seven counts for misappropriation.

The former Moresby North-East MP is facing allegations he conspired with others at the Department of Lands and Physical Planning, to obtain 64 allotments at the Durand Farm valued at over K5 million.

It is alleged he transferred the titles from the National Housing Corporation to a company called PNG Resource Corporation.

Coroner’s inquest into Albaniel’s death starts

The inquest is to determine the cause of death of the Business Editor, who was allegedly subject to domestic violence by her husband.

Police prosecutors handing the inquest indicated 23 witnesses were identified from police investigations that were compiled from the autopsy.

The autopsy was conducted by lead pathologist of Port Moresby General Hospital Dr Seth Fose, 10 days after Albaniel’s passing. 

She died on October 15 last year after a short illness. 

Motions in Koloma’s case adjourned

These include court orders issued last month to stay a warrant of arrest obtained against Koloma by police on allegations of official corruption.

His lawyer returned before Magistrate Cosmas Bidar today, where the motions were adjourned to May 29 on consent by parties.

The motions, which also include a contempt motion filed by Koloma, will be heard in court then.

A warrant of arrest was obtained by police for Koloma on April 13. He then took out a stay on his arrest on April 30.

District court refuses to relax Schram’s bail conditions

Dr Schram had filed for bail variation on the 10th of May to allow him to travel to Italy to bring back the original copy of his PhD certificate – which is the subject of his case.

His lawyer, Greg Manda, from Greg Manda lawyers, had filed the application under section 20 of the Bail Act.

Riki Kali in court

Ironically, the owner of the vehicle is from Manus.

Kali returned to court on Thursday. After a brief appearance, his case was adjourned to June 22.

In the meantime, the police prosecution will be giving his hand up brief, the files containing the police investigations, to the office of the Public Prosecutor.

The Public Prosecutor will then decide through what is called an election, if the case should proceed to trial in the grade 5 court and be dealt with summarily or go through the Committal Court process.

Ugandan teen asks to remain in country

The 19-year-old appeared at the Waigani District Court on Thursday, after he was arrested on arrival at the Jackson's International Airport on February 15.

Paul Muyanja has been kept in custody since his arrest at the Waigani Police station.

He was charged under section 16 (1)(a) of the Migration Act. A charge that has a penalty fine not exceeding K5000 or a custodial sentence of 6 months.

He told the court through his lawyer today that he comes from a war-torn area in Uganda and does not want to go back.