Aussies on illegal entry charges, freed

THE Vanimo District Court have freed two Australian citizens from illegal entry charges after police failed to produce their medical clearance for Covid-19 in West Sepik, senior provincial Magistrate Sasa Inkung says.
“There is no medical evidence that Sam Roem, 31, and Yoshua Roem, 27, originally from Jayapura City, Papua Province have been cleared from Covid-19 after they were accused of illegally entering PNG from Indonesia on March 3,” he told The National.
“And so the court struck out their cases (yesterday) as they have been appearing before the court since March 9.
“Although the (West Sepik) provincial health authority chairman Gerald Gubon had reported on March 24 in the media that they had been cleared of Covid-19, the court cannot rely on that media report.
“And so the court only struck out their cases because of no medical report.
“But they can be re-arrested to appear again before the court if police get their medical reports.”
The pair were charged with illegal entry after they arrived on a boat at Waromo village on March 5 without immigration documents.
Due to the Coronavirus awareness, the public were alert about any one crossing into West Sepik, reported them to police, resulting in their arrest.