Cyber harassment case against policeman dismissed

By GEORGINA KOREI
A COURT has dismissed two counts of cyber harassment charges against a policeman in a hearing in Port Moresby yesterday.
Waigani National Court Acting Judge Laura Wawun Kuvi said there was no report from the State to justify the circumstances that delayed the complainant from reporting the cyber harassment to the police.
“It took the complainant a year to report the matter, but why?” she said.
She said this when dismissing the charges against Patrick Wanariu, 26, from Lemieng village, Aitape in West Sepik.
Judge Laura said Patrick had admitted to the court that he allegedly used a mobile phone to call Melissa Saya (complainant) and used swearing words on her out of frustration.
He was frustrated for spending his time and money on Melissa and her child.
Judge Laura said the relationship between Patrick and Melissa was for only three months from March to June 2019 when the alleged cyber harassment happened.
Patrick told the court that he ended the relationship with Melissa in Oct 2019 and moved on with his life.
He was off the payroll from May 2020 to July 2021 because of the complaint laid against him by Melissa to the police headquarters.
Judge Laura said Melissa claimed that she had no ill feeling towards Patrick.
“The history of this case demonstrated otherwise,” she said.
She said also that Melissa was not Patrick’s wife and the child was not his child.