Businessman in Aust court

A PROMINENT PNG businessman will stand trial in Australia charged with raping, drugging and stalking a teenage girl in Brisbane.
Jeffrey Kennedy, 37, has been charged with rape, indecent dealing with a child, administering alcohol for the purpose of a sexual act, and stalking.
According to a report on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), police allege the first three offences took place in a hotel in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in 2019 and the victim was a girl under 18 at the time.
The stalking is said to have taken place later that year, with police alleging Kennedy installed spyware on the victim’s phone to track her movements.
Kennedy is well known in business and political circles in Port Moresby and for a brief time in 2019 was the chancellor of the University of PNG.
His then-de facto partner Kathleen Johnson is also charged with sexually abusing the girl.
Johnson, also a PNG national, has been charged with rape, indecent dealing with a child and administering alcohol for the purpose of a sexual act.
She is facing another charge of possessing child exploitation material, allegedly in the form of explicit text messages about the victim that were found on her phone.
The pair were jointly committed to stand trial after a four-day hearing in the Brisbane magistrates court this week.
They sat on separate sides of the courtroom during the proceedings.
Neither of them entered a plea and both remain on bail.
According to court documents, Kennedy was arrested in October 2019 at the Brisbane airport while attempting to travel back to PNG.
Abuse allegations were first raised with members of the Australian Federal Police based in PNG.
After being charged in Australia, Kennedy started legal proceedings in PNG against AFP liaison officer Julian Bianco, AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw and Queensland police commissioner Katarina Carroll in Port Moresby.
The AFP and Queensland police declined to comment when contacted by the ABC at the time because the matter was before the court.
Kennedy also pursued legal action in PNG against the people who raised allegations with the AFP, arguing that phone calls and text messages were recorded without his permission. – ABC