25-year-old appears in court for abduction with intent to marry

A 25-YEAR-OLD man appeared at the Central committal court yesterday accused of abducting Rosemary Arua, 17, with an intention to marry her.
Ikupu Ikupu, of Ere ’ere village in Waima, Kairuku, Central is charged with one count of abduction.
It was alleged that on Sept 19 at around 7pm, Ikupu while under the influence of alcohol approached the girl, and forced her to go with him.
The girl was watching children playing .
It was alleged that the girl had resisted but walked away with Ikupu in fear that he might do something bad to her because he was drunk and had a knife. Ikupu allegedly took the girl to his house and had sex with her.
He then allegedly took the girl to the nearby Oreke village and spent the night there.
Then they heard voices calling the girl’s name.
The girl was brought back home the next day by her mother after learning that she was at Oreke village with Ikupu.
The mother reported the incident to the village law and order committee who then reported it to police.
Ikupu voluntarily turned up at the Bereina police station and on interrogation, he admitted the offence.
Magistrate Marcus Nandape granted Ikupu a bail of K300 with bail conditions.
The conditions are that he will not interfere with state witnesses, not leave NCD and Central, attend court hearings at all times as scheduled and report to the Waigani Court registry every Friday. The case was adjourned to Jan 21.