A SENIOR judge collapsed and died in Mt Hagen yesterday from a suspected heart attack.
Justice Moses Jalina, the resident judge of Enga province, collapsed suddenly at the Kagamuga Airport after arriving on a morning flight from Port Moresby at around 10:30am.
He was rushed to the Mt Hagen General Hospital, but there was little doctors could do.
According to police, Justice Jalina collapsed suddenly as he was coming out of the terminal at the Kagamuga airport.
Police said he was rushed into a waiting vehicle and taken to the hospital’s accident and emergency ward. Doctors pronounced him dead at the hospital.
Staff at the hospital said the cause of his death had not been established, but it was suspected to be a heart attack.
The judicial fraternity was shocked to learn of his death.
Acting Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia said the judiciary had gone into mourning and closed operations at the National and Supreme Courts for yesterday and today as a mark of respect for Justice Jalina and services to the high courts.
Sir Salamo said Justice Jalina met an untimely death in Mt Hagen while returning from Supreme Court duties in Port Moresby. He was on his way to Wabag, where he was based.
Justice Jalina worked as a lawyer for the government before he was appointed a judge on June 29, 1990. After his first term expired in June 2000, he was re-appointed for a second term. He was serving the seventh year of his second 10-year term when he passed away.
The body of the late judge was flown to Port Moresby where a post mortem will be conducted to establish the cause of death.
Grieving members of the judicial services were at the airport to receive the body.
Justice Jalina, from Wosera in East Sepik province, leaves a legacy as a no-nonsense judge who demanded from lawyers, plaintiffs and defendants alike, attention to punctuality and appearance in courts.
In his time at the bench, he had no hesitation in charging lawyers with contempt and jailing them for turning up late in his court, even if for a few minutes only.
Justice Jalina is survived by his wife Kessi and five children.