Court tells women to think twice

A Mt Hagen District Court magistrate has advised women to think twice before taking their husbands to court.
In court yesterday, Magistrate Donald Joseph said that when women took their husbands to court, they must pursue the matter till the court handed down its decision.
He told them that if they knew that they could not pursue the matter to the end, there was no point in registering their case in the first place.
Joseph said it was a waste of court time and resources when women decided to discontinue their cases.
He was speaking after a woman from Minj, in Jiwaka, married to a Western Highlander, wanted to discontinue the case against her husband because it was affecting her job. She asked the court to issue a protection order. However, the court told her that she would need to file a separate claim in another court proceeding.
Joseph ordered husband Yapi Kingal’s bail money of K600 to be refunded.
He told other women present in the courtroom to think twice if they wanted to take their husbands to court.
Joseph told Kingal that his case was dismissed and police would not re-arrest him again over the same complaint.