Court begins inquiry

A CORONER’S Court has started the inquiry into the suspicious death of 14-year-old Rex Ben Wanzing who passed away while undergoing eye surgery at Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) last August.
The coronial inquiry panel at the Waigani Committal Court yesterday was led by Senior Magistrate Josephine Kilage with the assistance of Magistrate Sandy Tiakin and Magistrate Annie Turi.
Kilage said there were 22 witnesses to appear before the panel but there should be a draft schedule produced by the lawyer representing PMGH before the next hearing.
“Doctors need to serve their patients in the hospital so there should be a draft schedule indicating to the panel which doctors should appear before the panel at what dates,” she said.
“There are 20 witnesses, mostly doctors from the Port Moresby General and the two parents of the deceased brings the total to 22,” she said.
Kilage said this was a preliminary hearing for the court to find out how many witnesses were present before they proceeded on with the coroner’s inquest.
She said the second hearing will be on July 25 and the defence lawyer should present to the panel the scheduled dates for the witnesses to appear before the court.
“The full inquiry will be from Aug 15-19 and there will be sessions that each selected witnesses appear before the court,” she said.
“No need for all the doctors to show up at once, schedule the dates and they can come in groups.”
Port Moresby General Hospital lawyer Lillian Kauba in response told the panel that she had to consult the doctors and come up with the schedule dates to present in the next hearing as doctors had their consultations to attend to their patients in the hospital.
She said the doctors also needed some time to refresh their files before they could testify before the court as witnesses.
She also told the court that some of the doctors summoned did not have direct or indirect responses to the case.
However, Kilage said they would have to appear and the court would decide on this.
Former Chief Justice Sir Arnold Amet was also present during the inquest as a friend of the Wanzing family.
He told the court that the Wanzing family had arranged for a lawyer’s assistance to represent them before the panel in the next hearing.
He said there was an independent investigation authorised by the Health Minister Jelta Wong and that needed to be presented in court.
Kilage asked Kauba to also provide information about the status of the independent investigation report on July 25.