Hombi freed of abduction, rape and assault charges

By JULIA DAIA BORE
ALPHONSE Silas Hombi, the Gerehu Stage 6 resident accused and charged with six counts of  abduction, sexual penetration and assault and has been in Correctional Service custody since middle of this year has been freed of those charges.
The Waigani Committal Court yesterday dismissed all the six charges against Hombi and freed him from Correctional Service custody.
The Waigani Court, presided by Magistrate Pinsson Pindipia, ruled that the police case against Hombi did not have sufficient evidence to commit him, and saying so, threw the entire charges out of court.
Pindipia pointed out that the two sets of charges by the police against Hombi were made, one was five and half months later while another set was made over two and half months after the alleged offences committed.
Pindipia also pointed out that the police hand-up brief did not contain the correct laws to support its charges from the Criminal Code Act – particularly, in relation to the charges on abduction. And that the court file documents showed that there was scribbled handwritten insertions of the relevant section of the CCA, only after this issue was raised by the defence counsel.
This, he said, was an abuse of court process. As any amendment to the court documents could only be made by the matter being officially raised in court and granted the amendments to be made.
The court also ruled that neither of the two female complainants, who claimed to be sexually penetrated by the accused, and also the father of one of them who claimed to be badly beaten up by the accused “so much so that he had been sick and had lost a lot of weight”, had any medical reports to support their claims, Pindipia said in his ruling yesterday morning.
The court also ordered the return of the two firearms, in the possession of Hombi, at the time of his first arrest to be returned to him, saying that Hombi had valid and legal licences to be in possession of the firearms.
Hombi was freed from allegations to have abducted two female complainants on two separate occasions: that is on Feb 11, 2010 and May 4, 2010.