Cybercrime case within time limit, valid to proceed summarily

POLICE yesterday submitted to Boroko District Court a cybercrime-related case that was within the time limit of the charge and it will proceed summarily.
Police prosecutor Snr Sgt Peter Asi said the previous time limit on a charge was six months but that was amended to 12 months and the case concerning Adam Chin Cheah, 19, was still valid.
He said the case was also properly before the court which had the jurisdiction to commit the case summarily. Cheah was arrested and charged in September with unlawfully recording a private conversation using a listening device and made public the recordings to other persons.
Magistrate Rebecca Kalepo said the issue on time limitation was raised because the case was reported last year.
“The court gave time to the parties to make submissions on time limit and whether the court had the jurisdiction to hear the case,” she said.
Cheah’s lawyer Nerrie Eliakim, of Young and Williams Lawyers, submitted that the court should rely on the District Court Act to proceed the case summarily.
She submitted that the District Court Act, Section 48, indicated the time limitation of when the charge could be laid, which was six months.
“The allege offence in my client’s case rose between the months of August and September last year” she said. “The information against Cheah was laid on Sept 10 for an allege offence that rose in August or September in 2019.”
Eliakim said the information against Cheah was laid 11 to 12 months after the matter arose.
She also submitted that there was no regulation under the Protection of Private Communication Act of 1973 that constituted the secret communication device used in the matter.
Cheah’s and his mother Marilyn Espolong are facing other charges in the committal court. Espolong is charged with acting illegally to get son Cheah released from custody.
Cheah is charged with sexual penetration of a 16-year-old girl in a hotel in Port Moresby last June 22.
They were both juveniles at that time. Both mother and son will reappear on Dec 17.