Man appears in court for bribery

By Alphonse Porau
A man from Central, who allegedly breached his bail condition by bribing a police officer with intent to have his case dismissed, appeared before the Waigani Committal Court last week. Vincent Kema, from Gaire village in the Hiri district, was charged with bribery as well.
He was previously charged with stealing and was attending court when he allegedly breached his bail condition.
It was alleged that on the Sept 6, Kema offered K1000 to the police officer working on his case so that the officer could do a favour on Kema’s early charge of stealing.
Magistrate Cosmas Bidar read the charges and ordered the case return to court next year.
He said this would also allow time for the police to complete the files.
Bidar told the court that the breach of bail condition was an indictable offence.
Kema was previously charged with stealing frozen goods from a shop he was working for.
He did that for a period of time until the shop owners caught him and reported the matter to police. Kema will return to court on Jan 4.