Cop awaits court decision

By JAYNE SAFIHAO
THE head of the police Rapid Response Unit in Madang, who has been charged with attempted murder, will know his fate tomorrow when a verdict from his trial is handed down.
Snr Const Daniel Ka­pen, from Taulil village, East New Britain, is charged with the alleged shooting of a youth, Donald Mara, on Dec 11 last year.The court was told a single shot from a semi-automatic rifle, issued to Kapen at that time,was fired at Mara, injuring a foot.The court heard that Mara and a group of boys were seen on the roadside leading into Erima village, at Alemo, intoxicated after celebrating a soccer final win and the end of the school year graduation.
The court was told that when Kapen stopped to investigate, his weapon’s magazine fell as he was getting out of his vehicle.The court was told the eldest of his three children in the vehicle called out to him that “someone is coming from behind you with a knife”.
Kapen turned and fired which resulted in Mara getting shot in the foot.
But the state, represented by Maryanne Zurenuoc, conceded that Kapen was not in the angled position he claimed when he shot Mara as shown by the photographic evidence presented in court.
Zurenuoc argued  that Mara was shot while standing in front of Ka­pen, with the rifle pointing downward at his feet with an intention to wound, and not because of self-defence or because it was he feared for his life as claimed in his affidavits.
In final submissions presented last Thursday, Kapen’s lawyer Bill Tabai said a shot was fired but was done so in self-defence.
Tabai said Kapen had no real reason to kill and that there were many inconsistencies in what Mara and another witness, Cedric Waraho, said.
But Zurenuoc said that the defence had not proven its claim of “an unprovoked
assault”. on Kapen.