|
By PETER MIVA
A Morobe man charged with armed robbery walked out free after the
National Court in Lae discharged him because the key witness failed to
identify him in court during trial yesterday morning.
Andrew Sakai Bombom from Buingim village, Bukawa, in the Morobe
province, appeared for trial yesterday morning before Justice Sao Gabi
on allegations that he was armed with a pistol and had robbed Apo Metak,
a Hertz Rent A Car driver, when the victim pulled up at the Coronation
Service Station to refill the company’s vehicle on Oct 28, 2005.
Mr Metak, who appeared to give his own evidence, told the court that
that morning as he pulled up to refill petrol, a man wearing a brown cap
with yellow stripes approached him in the company of two others and
threatened him with a pistol and demanded the keys to the vehicle.
He told the court that he gave the keys to the man in fear of his life
and ran away from the scene of the robbery as the man drove away.
Mr Metak told the court that some time later he spotted the same man at
the police station and identified him as the man who had robbed him,
which led to the arrest and charging of the accused.
But when State lawyer Nicholas Miviri asked him if he was still able to
identify the same man who had robbed him if asked to, he said he could
still remember his face and was able to identify him.
When Mr Miviri asked Mr Metak to look around carefully in the court room
and point out the man who had robbed him, he stood up without looking at
the accused facing him from the opposite box, where the defendants
usually sit.
Mr Metak then looked around into the court room crowd and behind the
bench and pointed his finger confidently at another remandee who had
appeared earlier on in court for a different case.
Asked by Mr Miviri a second time if the man he was pointing to was the
one who had robbed him, he replied in Tok Pisin: “Yes, em man ya tasol
(Yes, that’s him).”
Realising the situation after Mr Metak had left the witness box, Mr
Miviri told the Justice Gabi that the accused had no case to answer
against the State and upon consultation from the defence counsel, told
the judge that they could no longer continue with the case.
Justice Gabi subsequently discharged Bombom of the armed robbery charge
and set him free.
 
|
