Man accused of rape denied bail

A COURT has denied bail for a man charged with sexual penetration of a minor last November after he made his first appearance in court on Monday.
Lae District Court Magistrate Tera Dawai refused to grant bail for a man from Akwange village in Menyamya, Morobe.
The court was told that such serious cases required a proper bail application from a lawyer to be filed in the National Court.
The man was accused of sexually penetrating a three-year-old girl, who is his wife’s niece, in a settlement in Lae.
He was charged under Section 229A (2) of the Criminal Code (Sexual Offences and Crimes Against Children) Act 2002.
The accused was informed that police investigators would continue working to establish whether there was sufficient evidence on the elements of the charge.
Magistrate Dawai said if there was sufficient evidence, the case would be tried in the National Court.
The magistrate adjourned the case to April 14 for a second mention which would give time to police to complete their investigation. According to police documents provided by the prosecution in court, the victim was with her father in their village at Menyamya and when her aunt went to the village for the district’s by-election and brought her to Lae to live with them at Asmambu settlement.
It was alleged that last Nov 15, year, the victim was feeling sick and complained to her aunt about a stomach ache.
The victim’s aunt took her to the hospital without checking her and reported that she had diarrhoea with bleeding and a high body temperature.
The girl was still sick so she took the her to her other sister and left her.
Police alleged that her aunt noticed that the victim looked sick and could not sit properly.
She asked the girl and was told about what the accused did to her.
The aunt took her to Angau Memorial Hospital’s family support centre where medical officers reported that the victim had injuries on her private parts.
The matter was reported to police and the accused was arrested and detained.