Man arrested for possessing stolen cheque, bail refused

By JAMES GUMUNO
A 20-YEAR-OLD man who was arrested for being in possession of a stolen cheque that had a forged signature was refused bail by the Mt Hagen Committal Court on Monday.
Police prosecutor Paul Urangian objected to a bail application saying the defendant did not have a fixed address in Mt Hagen.
Magistrate Betty Jacob told defendant Benjamin Joshua from Wandi village in Kundiawa-Gembogl, Chimbu, to engage a public solicitor to file a proper bail application.
Police alleged that last Monday, Joshua had the stolen cheque and was inside Mt Hagen’s Bank of South Pacific branch when tellers alerted the police.
He was arrested and charged with stolen item under the Criminal Code Act.
The court adjourned the matter to Feb 26 for mention.
Magistrate Jacob told the defendant that the court had given time to the arresting officer to interview witnesses and get their statements.
She said police would create a file and present it to the committal court, which would then study it to determine if the evidence was sufficient for the case to be referred to the National Court. Otherwise, the matter would be struck.
Meanwhile, in another committal court case, Magistrate Jacob also adjourned Dickson Komb’s case to Feb 26 to give police enough time to complete their file.
Police alleged that on New Year’s Day, Komb was the driver of a 15-seater bus which was involved in a road accident along the Wurup-Kaip road in the Anglimp-South Wahgi district of Jiwaka.
One man was killed and several others injured in the accident.
Komb was arrested and charged with one count of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
He was remanded and appeared in court yesterday and granted K2,000 bail by the court.