Four men get additional charge for attempting to escape

The National National

FOUR men in custody were slapped with an additional charge of attempting to escape from police custody last week.
Hiob Joe, Junior Wangi, Michael Lumber and Spencer Sanguame, all residents of Lae, appeared before magistrate Tera Dawai in the Lae District Court facing the charge.
They told the court that since they were detained over a month ago, they were not formally charged so they decided to escape.
Magistrate Dawai ordered police prosecutor Sr Sgt Vincent Suakai to inform the police station commander and officer-in-charge of the cell to be present in court on Monday to explain to the court why they had not been charged.
However, police reports presented in court indicated that:

  • Joe was detained for being in possession of marijuana and also had a previous conviction for stealing for which he was jailed;
  • Wangi was recently convicted for 12 months for possession of homebrew;
  • Lumber had a pending case for allegedly stealing a motor vehicle; and
  • Sanguame also had a pending case for alleged arm robbery.

The court heard that around 7pm on Jan 5 at Lae Central police station, duty officer Const Branda Ali was preparing dinner for the detainees.
It was alleged that when she opened the cell door to put the detainees food inside, Sanguame allegedly grabbed her by the neck, shut her mouth with his hands while Lumber held her hands and pulled her into the cell block. Lumber then removed the bunch of keys from her and they fled through the corridor to the gate and tried to open it.
It was alleged that they spent some time trying to find the right key to open the door as there were a lot of keys in the bunch.
The officer got up and called for help and other police officers came in and helped her recapture all the accused.
Dawai adjourned the case to Monday.