Court: Law does not allow compo

THE law does not recognise any compensation payment made by those charged with offences under the Family Protection Act, Mt Hagen District Court magistrate Lydia Karre says.
“Those detained by the police or the court under the Act will not be set free even after compensation is paid,” she added.
Karre said compensation was irrelevant under the Act and the court would still hear and punish those charged.
She made the remarks when ordering June Kapuk, 24, from Nipa’s Kuare in Southern Highlands to pay a K2,000 fine for assaulting his wife, Margaret Noki.
Kapuk, who returned home hungry on May 28, and allegedly punched and kicked his wife in the Kunai compound about 7pm in Hagen city after Noki refused to give him a match to light the stove to cook.
Kapuk pleaded guilty to assaulting Noki last month.
Noki told the court yesterday that Kapuk’s relatives compensated her with K300 on Tuesday and asked the court to set her husband free.
According to the probation report, police prosecutor Const Anna Koroda, Noki wanted her husband to be set free for the good of the family.
Karre rejected Noki’s request and told her that she told the court earlier that her husband had attacked her several times.
“This is not a first time, if the court let him go free, he will still attack you and he needs to learn a lesson,” she said.
“Even though Kapuk pleaded guilty and said sorry to the court and Noki and is a first time offender, he cannot be freed,” she added.
Karre told Kapuk that the penalty for committing such a crime was a fine between K100 and K4,000 or a jail sentence not exceeding two years. She said the court would be lenient and fined him K2,000 in default six months jail.