Judge orders payment for cop

The National National

By ZEDAIAH KANAU
A JUDGE has ordered judgement in the sum of K30,000 to a policeman who was assaulted by other members of the police force at the Waigani National and Supreme Court precinct in 2012.
Justice Colin Makail also ordered that exemplary damages be paid to Frank Leme over the incident nine years ago in which he was assaulted by policemen for transporting a lawyer out of the court premises in Waigani.
Leme is a member of the National Capital District (NCD) police.
On the evening of May 24, 2012, between 6pm and 7pm, he accompanied then NCD Met Supt Joseph Tondop and one other in a vehicle to the court precinct.
They went to pick up lawyer David Dotaona, who was at the time representing former deputy commissioner of police Fred Yakasa and was trapped inside the court house following the arrest of then chief justice Sir Salamo Injia earlier that afternoon.
After they picked up Dotaona, they drove out the court precinct and were stopped by constables Brian Winnie, Laki Tute, Toksy Nema and Allan Kunjil (first defendants).
The policemen were in the presence of Insp David Seine (second defendant), Chief Insp Samson Kua (third defendant) and then mobile squad director David Manning (fourth defendant).
The policemen accused Leme of siding with Sir Salamo and ordered them out of the vehicle, searched them and forced them to the ground.
He was allegedly dragged and struck on the head with the butt of a gun, kicked and thrown to the ground.
They did the same to Tondop, Dotaona and the other passenger.
Leme sustained injuries that included deep lacerations to his face, mouth, lips, concussion and memory loss, and a scar to his forehead.
Justice Makail said it was a serious case of assault on an unarmed and defenceless individual.
“The actions of the first defendants and the second defendant must be condemned in the strongest terms as possible,” he said.
“This was truly a cowardly act, unprovoked and unjustified and warrants a higher award in damages to compensate the plaintiff for his pain and suffering.”
The defendants were also ordered to pay pre-judgement interest and post-judgement interest at the rate of 2 per cent from the date of trial to the date of judgement and final settlement on the sum of K30,000.