Fistfight outside court as poll decision favours Zibe

A FIGHT broke out between supporters of petitioner Tukape Masani and Health Minister Sasa Zibe outside the Lae court premises yesterday, after a judge had dismissed the petition against Mr Zibe.
Traffic along the Huon Road came to a halt for about five minutes as Mr Masani assisted the police to quell the melee.
One vehicle lost its side screen and police fired three shots into the air to disperse the crowd and prevent the fight from escalating.
It was not known who started the fight but it took place after Mr Zibe had driven off and Mr Masani was about to leave after the decision had been handed down.
The fight appeared to involve a small group of rival supporters who did not appreciate the court ruling.
Motorists stopped on both sides of the road as police task force units, who were at the scene, managed to bring the situation under control.
Court users were locked up temporarily inside the court premises, while stones were hurled into the yard. There were no damages to buildings, and nor were there reports of anyone hurt.
National Court judge Justice Bernard Sakora who handed down the ruling, left the city under heavy police escort to Nadzab for the flight to Port Moresby.
Earlier in court, Justice Sakora dismissed the election petition by Mr Masani challenging the election of Mr Zibe as Member for the Huon Gulf Open seat, on grounds of lack of evidence.
Justice Sakora said Mr Masani did not substantiate the number of votes that belonged to him that were not counted in the elimination counts.
He said there was also no evidence to prove the exact number of ballot papers counted as exhausted votes belonging to candidate Thomas Nen in the primary counts.
The judge ruled that he found that there were 4,083 exhausted votes according to his own calculations but the petitioner alleged over 4,000 votes which is not the exact figure.
Justice Sakora also ruled that there was no evidence to prove the number of votes belonging to Mr Masani that were wrongly placed in Mr Zibe’s box.
He said these facts were requested by the court during the pleadings for Mr Masani to provide as evidence during the trial but he failed to provide the numbers.
On the allegations that the scrutineers were kept away at a distance of 1.6m from the counting officials, Justice Sakora ruled that there was no evidence to prove the exact distance.
Justice Sakora ruled that the 1.6m distance was only estimated and no evidence showed any real physical measurement.
He said Section 150 of the Organic Law says scrutineers ‘may be present’ during the counting and that it was optional.
Mr Zibe said outside the court now that the anxiety had been taken away from him, he was looking forward to working with Mr Masani and his supporters for the benefit of the electorate.
Mr Masani also accepted the decision of the court.
But as Mr Zibe drove off and Mr Masani was about to leave, the fight broke out.