Court frees robbery suspect

THE Waigani Committal Court has struck out the case of a 26-year-old man who was charged with armed robbery because the police failed to complete its investigations.
Magistrate Paul Nii last week said he would not proceed with the case in the absence of a police file and freed Paul Samuel from Kairuku’s Kabuna village in Central.
Samuel was charged on July 28 and his case was mentioned several times but there was never any progress.
Magistrate Nii said: “At every mention, the police prosecutor responded that the matter was pending police file and nothing was forthcoming to the satisfaction of the law.”
“Therefore, the allegations of using firearm for robbery and unlawfully using a motor vehicle against Samuel are both struck out for want of police evidence and Samuel is freed from the charges,” he said.
Police alleged that between 2pm and 3pm on June 17, the victim and her elder daughter were in a car going through Erima Mambu Street to pick up the younger daughter from the Institute of Christian Academy in Kennedy campus, Port Moresby, when Samuel and his three accomplices threatened them with a pistol.
The victim and her daughter came out of the car and Samuel and his accomplices allegedly took the victim’s vehicle, K2,000, a national identification card Bank South Pacific card and a driver’s licence.
Samuel and his friends drove towards Wildlife settlement where they allegedly crashed with another vehicle and were injured.
Except Samuel, all his accomplices managed to escape the scene.