Case awaits pre-trial reports

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AUSTRALIAN pilot David John Cutmore responsible for trying to fly out Papua New Guinea’s largest haul of cocaine will return to court at the end of the month for State and defence lawyers to file pre-trial reports.
National Court Judge Theresa Berrigan presiding at Waigani yesterday made the order when both State and defence teams advised that they had yet to complete pre-trial reports for Cutmore’s case.
Two weeks ago, Cutmore pleaded guilty in the National Court, of attempting to transporting 611.1kg of cocaine out of the country.
He was charged with dealing with criminal property (cocaine) as prescribed under the Dangerous Drugs Act.
According to the allegations read to him by Berrigan, Cutmore illegally entered the country from Cairns, Australia, alone, on a twin-engine aircraft which landed near Central’s Papa Lea-Lea village located 20km northwest of Port Moresby on July 26, 2020.
He was alleged to have flown in to pick up the cocaine which bore an estimated street value of A$141 million (about K349 million).
The plane crashed attempting to take off from a dirt airstrip because it was overloaded and was later discovered by police.
After hearing the allegations read to him, Cutmore pleaded guilty. Cutmore’s lawyer Friedrich Kirriwom explained earlier outside of court that both State and defence teams had agreed to settle with charging Cutmore with receiving cocaine under the Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Amended Act (2015), putting it into the plane and unsuccessfully taking off and crashing.
The matter returns on Aug 30 for mention and Cutmore was remanded.