‘Court bails to rise’

COURT bails will now be maintained at amounts higher than in the recent past to deter detainees from absconding, a senior Port Moresby magistrate warned this week.
Senior magistrate Pinsson Pindipia, sitting in the Waigani Committal Court on Tuesday, told bail applicant Tony Kopu that many detainees in the past had posted lesser court bails and had disappeared for good.
Kopu was granted a bail of K700, which he will pay K500 while his two guarantors-community leaders at his 6-Mile home-will each pay K100.
The 26-year-old from Hairo in Lufa, Eastern Highlands province, was charged with stealing K34,840.21 from a female complainant’s Bank South Pacific Kundu card in late January, contravening section 372(1) of the Criminal Code Act.
Mr Pindipia said the higher bails would prevent detainees from escaping and ensure they appear before the court through to the end.
Kopu was afforded bail after arguing his innocence and maintaining that he was the only bread winner of his young family.
Court documents stated that a young man had taken his mother’s bank card to a nightclub and had used it.
The defendant had allegedly spied on the young man using the card and attacked him and his two accomplices, escaping with the bank card.
He allegedly went on a shopping spree between Jan 24 and Jan 26, using up K34,840.21 from the K75,489.21 that was in the complainant’s bank account.
The matter will return to court on May 6.