Family court cases on the rise

 FAMILY court cases in East New Britain have increased, senior provincial magistrate, Samuel Lavutul says.

Speaking at the opening of the village court building at Vunamami local level government in Kokopo last weekend, Lavutul said statistics showed that family court matters have overtaken their normal summary track and committal tracks.

“Family court matters have risen drastically – meaning that many more young women and deserted wives are coming to the district court to sue for financial support from husbands or partners,” he said.

Lavutul said this highlighted that the community and leaders at all levels have a huge role to play.

“Many young girls have left school and have had children and are seeking services with the court for maintenance from their partners,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said they have already begun to hear land court and village court appeals.

Lavutul said there were about 600 outstanding land court matters in the province.

Recently, the provincial land dispute committee met and passed a resolution for the district courts to start hearing outstanding land court matters.