Phone call lands man in jail for six hours

A MAN was locked up for six hours at the Mt Hagen District Court cell after his phone rang inside magistrate Donald Joseph’s courtroom.
Joseph was presiding over a land court appeal involving Grege Mel and Brus Tembon when Akinui Kombra’s phone rang at around 10am.
Kombra was in the court room pretending to be Tembon.
Joseph confiscated his phone and had Kombra locked up in the court’s cell till 4.06pm yesterday.
“I want to warn all the court users to switch off your mobile phones before coming into my courtroom or any other courtrooms in other provinces,” he said.
Joseph ordered Tembon to appear in court and pay the cost of legal proceedings to Mel which is yet to be worked out.
“I want Tembon to appear and tell the court why he has not attended the case many times,” he said.
And if Tembon fails to do that, the court would make orders and give the land to Mel, Joseph added.
Mel was appealing the decision of land mediators on May 24, 2018.
Joseph then warned Kombra not to impersonate Tembon again as he could be charged with contempt and locked up at Baisu jail for six months.
He told Kombra to call Tembon to come from Port Moresby and present in his courtroom on Sept 3 for the next hearing.