Lae business couple get deportation notice

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
A CHINESE couple, who were charged with assault and insult of a Lae-based female journalist last year, were served their deportation notice yesterday
The direction to leave the country within seven days came from the office of chief migration officer Solomon Kantha and was served by two Lae-based immigration officers to Min Zheng, 36, and wife Shuding Wu, 35, at Kamkumung.
Minister for Immigration and Border Security Petrus Thomas exercised his powers by cancelling the entry permits of the couple. Zheng and Wu own Fine Trading Ltd which operates a shop next to a fuel and gas station at Kamkumung. They insulted and later assaulted EMTV journalist Julie Badui-Owa on Christmas Day last year.
According to her complaint to police, Badui Owa said she was insulted and punched three times in the face for telling some Chinese men to stop smoking inside the shop. A hearing in the Lae District Court on Dec 28 found the couple, from Fuji province, guilty and they were fined K500 each.
City Council director for health and community services Jonathan Ipang said smoking in public places was illegal and should not be allowed.