Grandfather accused of molesting step grandson skips court

A 56-YEAR-OLD grandfather who is charged with sexually assaulting his six-year-old step grandson by fondly with his penis failed to appear in the Waigani Committal Court yesterday.
Magistrate Garry Unjo adjourned the case to April 15 for submissions and extended the grandfather’s K1,000 bail. The grandfather, from Milne Bay’s Dobu village, is charged with persistent sexual abuse of a minor.
The victim told police that he could not recall the exact dates and time when the abuses occurred.
But he said that the abuses started in 2019.
The accused is married with four adult children.
The boy’s parents are separated and he goes back and forth to his father in Central’s Pari and to his mother in Port Moresby’s Morata.
Police alleged that between Dec 1, 2019, and last June 26, the man allegedly abused the child after his father left for work. While baby-sitting the boy, it was alleged that the grandfather, on numerous occasions, approached the boy and fondled his penis.
The molestation allegedly would occur every time the boy played outside the house.
Then, on July 28, when the boy was with his stepfather, he told him about the many sexual abuses by his grandfather.
The stepfather told the boy’s mother.
They then lodged a report with the Boroko Police Station with the criminal investigation division’s sexual offence squad on Aug 18.