False pretence cases on rise, says Sir Gibbs

By HEZRON KISING
IT has become a trend to obtain goods and services through dishonest means, Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika told the Waigani National Court on Friday.
He said that over the past 10 years he had dealt with so many cases of misappropriation and false pretence.
Sir Gibbs raised the issue after sentencing a women, Anne Diro, to 18 months imprisonment with hard labour for misappropriation. On the previous day, Sir Gibbs sentenced a man, Wesley Kopman, to five years imprisonment on a false pretence charge.
“People need to stop this habit of deceiving other people to get things from them” Sir Gibbs told the court.
“It is something that will spoil your name and reputation in your own community. People will dishonour you and dislike you. They will not respect you.
“Such acts have to be stopped because it causes a lot of inconvenience and makes a lot of people suffer.”
Sir Gibbs deducted five months and two weeks from Diro’s sentence for time spent in custody. Diro, of Port Moresby, had obtained K2000 from Gewa Morris and her husband Gibson on an agreement that she would help them sort out Gibson’s visa which had expired.
The court heard that Diro took the money and never completed the job as agreed. The couple waited for some time for Diro’s response but to no avail. Several calls and attempts to reach her were unsuccessful. Diro allegedly went into hiding after she realised that Gewa and her husband were looking for her.