Man charged with killing betel nut buyer

By ALICE OSII
A MAN charged with killing a betel nut buyer in Kerema in 2015 has been committed to stand trial in the National Court after sufficient evidence was found against him.
Max Meako, originally from Karama village in Gulf, was charged with one count of murder of Peter Miti.
Police alleged that on Oct 25, 2015, at Mupa village in Kerema, Gulf, Meako wilfully killed Miti.
Miti, from Mul-Baiyer in Western Highlands, was a regular buyer of betelnuts in Kerema village and had known a good number of people in the area.
Police reports stated that before Miti passed, he made a dying declaration that Meako was the one who chopped him with the knife.
The court heard that on the day of the killing, Meako gathered his gardening tools and left to work at his garden. A while later, they saw Miti screaming and running back to the village.
Before he was rushed to the hospital in Kerema, he told the people who assisted him that Meako chopped him with a bush knife.
Miti later died at the Kerema General Hospital from loss of blood.
When Meako returned to the village, he found his house in ashes after it was set on fire by the relatives of the deceased.
Magistrate Cosmas Bidar told Meako that a dying man’s declaration is always of high value in police investigative evidence.
He said dying people did not lie when they made a declaration.
Bidar ordered that Meako be remanded in custody until he appeared for listing in the National Court on Nov 26.