Court asked to dismiss fake beer case

National

By BEVERLY PETER
SHANGRI-LA Motel operations manager Yip Chee Ming Sam says the charge of counterfeit trade mark against him is defective and ask the court to dismiss it.
Yip, through his lawyer Mike Golu, during submission before magistrate Paul Puri Nii at Committal Court in Waigani yesterday said this was because the allegations on police file did not support the charge.
Golu said: “The charge is about forging trade mark when the allegations are about counterfeit SP beer being found in the motel Ming manages.
“There is no evidence in the police file as well as the brief facts that meet the elements of counterfeit trade mark charge against Ming.”
Golu said the police evidence was insufficient because it did not clearly show that Yip was the owner of the container containing the fake beer.
“Although the beer was found in the motel’s premises, none of the police witnesses or the file said it was Ming’s,” he said.
“The evidence shows that the beer was fake and Ming did not argue that it was fake, however there is no evidence to prove it belongs to him.
“Ming does not own the property where the container containing the beer was found as Shangri-La motel operates on renting within the property.”