19 accomplices free

AN almost two-year jail ordeal came to an end yesterday for 18 young men and one woman who had been charged with being accessories to William Nanua Kapris’ 2008 Madang Bank South Pacific robbery.
Many of them broke down in court soon after it ended and wept for joy at having being freed of their charges.
At their “no case to answer” decision handed down yesterday, Justice Nicholas Kirriwom described the entire “association” of the 19 accused and linked “to the notorious bank robber as quite deplorable”.
After having heard the evidences put before him by the state’s six witnesses regarding the 19, the judge said: “How can such inference be drawn on the evidence in the circumstances of this case? “Where is the evidence of Kapris being assisted to escape punishment when the unverified evidence reported Kapris already reaching Port Moresby by the Aroma coast few days before the police were made aware?
“Was he then running from the law when sighted by police in the company of these two vehicles (15-seater Hi-ace bus and Mitsubishi L200)? Or was he just minding his own business in the company of other citizens interacting with them in the ordinary way of life?” Kirriwom asked.
“Unless there is direct or indirect evidence of some overt (blatant or clear) act to help Kapris escape punishment, the evidence before me is far from satisfactory to draw such conclusion,” he said.
He said there was no evidence of link between all or any of the accused and Kapris tendered to court by police.
There was no evidence of prior meeting before the so-called “convoy” that left for Magi Highway on July 17, 2008; towards Aroma coast, where all the accused said they were going to for a bride-price ceremony, the judge said.
“In the absence of direct or indirect evidence, all these accused were deemed guilty by ‘association’. It was this theory of guilt by association which resulted in their mass arrest, which is quite deplorable,” Kirriwom said.
“For all we know, these people may have been happily making their way to the village for the proposed feast when Kapris joined them to be part of this ceremony, does this make all these people accessory after the fact to Kapris’ crime of the robbery of BSP Madang? “There must be something more than that.”
Of the evidence presented to him, the judge said: “There is not even a scintilla of evidence of each and everyone accused of being involved or interacting with William Nanua Kapris, either directly or indirectly; following the Madang BSP robbery, for them to be implicated in this crime as accessories other than being on the two vehicles headed for Aroma coast on the night of July 17, 2008.”
The accused who have been freed of the charges are Samuel Job, Jesse Suah, Cletus Wafi, James Titus, Wari Gema, Arara Pepena, Kevin Peter, Ronald Oimeve Tadigu, One Ura, Wagi Kome, Ivali Oru, Frank Abraham Jack, Charlie Posanau, David Koiyama, Philip Kimia, Agi Kota, Lance Moha aka Alphonse Moutaia, Oliver Benny, and Jane Walevo.