Court wants efficiency from police

By ROBINSON LEKA
A MAGISTRATE has urged police investigators to be attentive and timely in their reports when arresting and charging people as it was causing them inconvenience to remain in custody.
Senior magistrate Rosie Johnson in the Boroko District Court yesterday struck out the case of a man charged with spreading false reports because nothing was in his file.
Joe Ricky Varage, 20, from Wanigela village in Koki, was arrested last Tuesday and appeared from custody.
Police prosecutors made an application in court for Varage’s case to be struck out as the arresting officers were yet to determine the nature of his charge and his case file was incomplete.
Magistrate Johnson, when the speaking to Varage, said she regretted that nothing was done about his case file from the time he was arrested up until his appearance in court. She ruled to have his matter struck out as police evidence was defective.
“You see when information is defective, we keep people in the cells for far too long. Just put yourselves in their shoes and you will feel that you were unlawfully detained, you were unlawfully dealt with, the system failed you or failed them by not bringing them amicably to the court.
“Charging them and then bringing them to court within 72 hours, three days – we are into seven days, more than the required time.
“We should all be mindful that we are dealing with human beings with integrity and they are as equal as ourselves regardless of what cap we wear, what type of job we do.
“So if you start putting yourself in his shoes, you will understand how he’s feeling. If you don’t put yourself in one’s shoes, you will not feel anything, you will not be sensitive.
“A lot of times we end up causing inconvenience and injustice to our own people because we deal with them at arm’s length.
“At the end of the day, we are all human beings and we all fall under the same set of rules that govern every one of us.”