Former ACP Kalaut facing abuse of office charges, perverting justice

By BOURA GORUKILA
DISMISSED Asst Comm of Police (ACP) human resources Sylvester Kalaut charged with abuse of office and perverting the course of justice appeared for the second time in the Waigani Committal Court before Magistrate Tracy Ganaii.
Kalaut’s arrest was in relation to the death of wanted criminals William Nanua Kapris and Raphael Walimini on the Hiritano Highway in 2013. It was alleged that between Sept 12 and 30, 2017, Kalaut attempted to pervert the course of justice by interfering with the investigation conducted into the murder of Kapris and Walimini and abused the authority of his office by directing Central and police station commanders to convene at the 6-Mile Police Station where he allegedly ordered the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Raymond Boyamo to surrender exhibits (pistol serial No. 20316581, glock and a black air gun long barrel pistol) used by the criminals.
According to the police statement of facts, the weapons (exhibits) were required for investigation purposes to establish if there was any exchange of fire as alleged by police officers at the crime scene.
But Kalaut, allegedly when concealing the weapons, had gone ahead and informed then police commissioner Gari Baki to stop the criminal investigations into the deaths of the wanted criminals.
This resulted in the investigation being stalled for fear of ramifications from the top management as Asst Comm Crimes Victor Isouve was suspended and later dismissed from police for sanctioning the investigation.
It was alleged that on July 22, 2013 between 6pm and 8pm, members of the NCD armed robbery squad after recapturing the suspects without any exchange of gun fire, repeatedly shot Kapris and Walimini at close range using state-issued firearms after they had surrendered at Camp 48, Gabadi, along Hiritano Highway, Central.
The matter returns on June 26.