Court gets tough on drunks

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday July 18th, 2013

 By JUNIOR UKAHA

THE court will be tough on drunks as many problems are created by them, a magistrate said yesterday when he fined six men K500 each for consuming alcohol in a vehicle.

Lae District Court magistrate Nasaling Bingtau fined Emmanuel Simon, Dero Sooni, Japeth Tiambo, Valentine Nelson, Gideon Tony and Philemon Yawi after they were caught drinking in a moving vehicle.

All men pleaded guilty and were ordered to pay the fine or face 12 months jail sentence each.

The court heard that between 5-6pm on July 13 on Milfordhaven Road in Lae, Morobe, the accused were caught by police drinking alcohol as passengers in a 15-seater bus.

The court heard that police got suspicious when they sped past the Polytechnic Institute so they were stopped.

Bingtau said the court would not be lenient on them as drunkards had created many problems in Lae city.

“We do not want to promote drunkards on our streets,” Bingtau said.

He converted their K200 bail each into court fine and ordered they pay an additional K300 each before being released.