Father jailed for homebrew production

 By JUNIOR UKAHA

LAE city is experiencing many problems because of bad people in the community, a magistrate said yesterday when sentencing a man to a year in jail for producing homebrew.

Lae District Court Magistrate Nasaling Bingtau sent Kila Otto, from Sinasina, Chimbu, to jail and ordered the father of four to pay a K2,000 fine for being in possession of a homemade shotgun.

The court heard police raided the home of the G4S security officer at Kamkumung at around 11am after a tip-off and found him producing homebrew.

Police told the court they discovered the weapon during their raid.

Otto told the court he did produce the homebrew but the homebrew production apparatus belonged to youths who used his yard to produce it during the State of Origin match the week before.

About the gun, Otto said his son had found the weapon during the clash between Morobeans and Highlanders last year.

He said he had no idea about how to use the weapon.

“These things were kept at your house with your knowledge and authority,” Bingtau told the accused.

“You are a security guard and your job is to help police stop these types of activities.”

Bingtau jailed the accused for a year for producing homebrew and told him to pay a fine of K2,000 for the weapons charge or be sentenced to five years in prison.