Court expected to rule on Kange’s application

National
Source:
The National, Thursday July 14th, 2016

THE Waigani Committal Court is expected to make a ruling on an application by businessman and lawyer Felix Kange, charged with the murder of his wife, to strike out the additional charge of escaping from lawful custody.
The lawyer representing Kange, Fredrick Lunge, claimed yesterday that the charge was misconceived and that his client was not a prisoner.
Magistrate Cosmas Bidar said the application boiled down the interpretation of the word “prisoner”.
“What the counsel is submitting is to differentiate prisoner from detaining,” Bidar said.
Lunge argued that his client was a detainee and not a prisoner because a prisoner was someone who was convicted.
He submitted that his client’s charge of escaping from lawful custody was false and incompetent.
He claimed that even if investigations continued, police would still fall short of evidence.
He said that the charge could not be proven by any evidence.
Bidar said according to the criminal code Act, it did not specify prisoner or detainee.
He said it just defined prisoner.
However, Bidar stated that it all came down to the interpretation of the word “prisoner”. He adjourned the case to Aug 11 for a possible ruling.
The substantive matter will also be mentioned on the same date.
Kange, 30, from Maia village in Pangia in Southern Highlands, was alleged to have murdered his wife Regina Morove at their Garden Hills residence in the National Capital District using a gun on the 14th of May.

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