Charged over unseaworthy ship

By JIMMY KALEBE
THREE Malaysians charged with one count each of sending an un-seaworthy ship to sea were granted K8,000 bail by a Committal Court in Lae, Morobe, on Friday.
Magistrate Pious Tapil ordered the surrender of their passports and that any travel out of the country is to be approved only by the courts.
The court also ordered Sugai Bin Stephen, 40, from Sarawak City’s Kapit village, Hii Kheng Tong, 53 and Lau Woo, 60, both from Sibu, all from Malaysia, to attend all their court hearings.
Stephen was ordered by the court to pay K2,000 bail with the two guarantors to pay K500 each totalling K3,000; while Tong and Woo were ordered by the court to pay a bail of K2,000 each and two guarantors to pay K500 each totalling K5,000.
They were also not to interfere with State witnesses while out on bail.
Magistrate Tapil further advised Stephen, Tong and Woo that their travel within the country was permitted.
But they had to make sure that they were present in court on the dates set by the court.
It was alleged that on May 8, Woo and Tong ordered Stephen to take the unseaworthy ship (a tugboat) that was earlier detained by the National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA), out to sea, without official approval.
Police told the court that the NMSA inspectors had earlier detained the tugboat (named) on April 27.
The court heard that the NMSA inspectors then went to a logging camp in Wasu, Tewae-Siassi, and confirmed that the tugboat in question was actually in use to support the logging company’s operations.
It was also alleged that Stephen did not have a licence to take the ship to Lae without an approval from NMSA.
The court heard that the ship was searched and upon inspection it was confirmed that there were no engineers and crew present on the vessel.
The matter returns to court on July 28.