Deputy CJ zooms in on police breaches

By CHRISTOPHER YOWAT
Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika says that most of the normal process and procedures that are executed by police officers are often breached.
Sir Gibbs said this after an alleged offender, Moses Maina, from Hagen, gave evidence in the trial of a policeman charged with unlawful release of a prisoner who was in custody after allegedly obtaining money corruptly.
Maina told the court that he had the phone number of his arresting officer and was contacting him since the day he was apprehended and detained at the police cells in Port Moresby.
The court heard that Maina was released from custody after he bribed a police officer with K500. He, however, did not identify the accused before the court as the man who had received his money.
Maina told the court that he had to bribe his way out because he was threatened by a police officer and was afraid for his family’s safety.
The court heard that Maina went straight home, slept and later called his arresting officer to apprehend him and bring him back to custody. Sir Gibbs was furious and said that police officers and investigators were not obliged to give their personal numbers to suspects who were arrested and kept in custody.
“This is not supposed to happen,” Sir Gibbs said.
“This is not a normal practice, normal police processes are being broken.”