Bail application for 40 rejected

KAVIENG district court has rejected bail for 40 suspects in last month’s Pire incident because their appeal fell short of the court’s power to grant bail, New Ireland police commander Chief Insp Felix Nebanat says.
This is despite K24,000 being deposited as their bail money.
Nebanat said the nature of some of their offences on July 26 were serious, hence bail in district court was out of the question. Eight charges were laid against each of the 40, armed robbery, arson, wilful damage of properties and assault in the form of threat, causing grievous bodily harm, and violence among them.
The district court has no jurisdiction to grant bail under Section 4 (1) b of the Bail Act as firearms were involved in one of the eight charges, Nebanat said.
The court advised that the only option left to free them was to apply for bail in the National Court.
However, there will be no National Court sitting until next month, which meant another month of lockup unless bail was sought in the National Court in Kokopo.
The suspects’ lawyer wanted the court to reconsider bail on the grounds that K24,000 was deposited into the Public Monies Account on Tuesday on an arrangement with the Kavieng Police Station commander (PSC) but that was rejected.
According to Nebanat, the PSC had no power to give police bail considering the seriousness of some offences.
He said the arrangement was done without his knowledge and consent and was questionable according to the provisions of the Bail Act which stipulated that criminal offences could not accord police bail.
The suspects are remanded at Kavieng jail to await their next mention on Sept 12.
Meanwhile, police investigation is still ongoing with more suspects and witnesses expected to be rounded up while court files for those in custody are being prepared.