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FORMER managing director of the
Mineral Resources Development Corporation (MRDC) Francis Kaupa was
acquitted of firearm charges by the Kundiawa District Court last week.
Senior district court magistrate Jeffery Siki dismissed the case for
lack of substantial evidence after a four-day trial, after police
prosecution failed prove that Mr Kaupa actually owned the firearms or
had placed them in his vehicle.
Mr Kaupa’s counsel Kerenga Kua made a no-case submission.
The court’s decision last Wednesday also ordered for Mr Kaupa’s K1,000
bail to be refunded.
Police arrested and charged Mr Kaupa on July 10 this year for allegedly
being in possession of an unlicensed high powered .22 rifle and a
home-made gun contravening section 27 A (3) (b) of the Firearms Act.
He was arrested along the Nambayufa road in the Chuave district of Simbu
province while returning to his village from Goroka during the recently
concluded general election.
Mr Kaupa was then a candidate for the Chuave Open seat.
During the trial, Mr Siki discovered that the firearms found in Mr
Kaupa’s vehicle was actually placed there by other people who had used
the vehicle the previous day without his (Kaupa’s) knowledge.
“I have never owned a gun in my life and was surprisingly confused when
police found the firearms in my vehicle,” a relieved Mr Kaupa told The
National in Goroka last Thursday.
Mr Kaupa alleged that someone who owned the .22 rifle was with him and
admitted to placing it in the vehicle.
He said he did not understand why police arrested him and not that
person.
 
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