Court: Prioritise offences
By BOURA GORUKILA
A MAGISTRATE says serious offences should be prioritised and properly investigated by police.
Magistrate Tracy Ganaii made the statement in the Waigani Committal Court yesterday when discharging an alleged offender in a sexual penetration case of a minor for want of prosecution.
However, Magistrate Ganai warned him that he could be re-arrested if and when police got their act together. “Such cases are serious cases and they should be properly investigated.
“I don’t know where their (police investigators) priorities are,” she said.
Police prosecutor Sgt Joseph Sangam asked for a short adjournment to seek instructions from the police investigator who went home because there was a death in her family, but there was no affidavit filed as evidence for the reasons of adjournment, thus, Ganaii threw the case out. Magistrate Ganaii discharged the man, whom The National chose not to identify to protect the 11-year-old victim, who was related to him.
“The case is struck out and you are discharged because there is no police hand-up brief forthcoming, Magistrate Ganaii said .
“Police have the right to arrest you again if they have evidence.”
The man was alleged to have sexually penetrated the girl in Port Moresby.
It was alleged that on Jan 30, around 10pm, he went to the girl’s room, slept on top of her and pushed his fingers into her private part.
The victim woke up when she felt someone’s weight on her and felt someone holding her body.
She screamed and went to where the man’s wife was sleeping and told her everything.
She was taken to hospital the next day and a complaint was laid at the police station, the man was arrested, charged and detained.
2 comments
“Such cases are serious cases and should be properly investigated. I don’t know where the police investigators priorities are”. On many occasions the police have never got their act together resulting in cases getting thrown out. Police investigators are too lazy, underperforming, inefficient, incompetent, don’t really know due court processes, give too many excuses not to turn up for their cases.
If the police department and whoever the particular senior police officer responsible for these incompetent investigators is not doing anything to ensure their officers are pulled into line and made to understand why they should be investigating cases properly then maybe the courts/magistrates should start penalising these incompetent lazy investigators and hauling them into court and sending them off to jail so it sends a strong message to the other lazy investigators to pull up their game and start doing their jobs competently (for which they get paid for) so they gain the trust and confidence of the general population in investigating, prosecuting and wining cases. Someone should start cracking the whip to get these lazy police investigators to start doing proper investigations. We are tired of seeing cases getting thrown out because of police incompetence and laziness!!
I want to know whether the Australian Federal Police Assistance to RPNGC is in the area of improving investigation skills of our PNG policemen/women. Most cases that go to court are either struck out or dismissed because of lack of evidence, no evidence or just back investigation by the police. This is one of hundreds of cases!!!!!
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