Man denies allegation he caused road accident in Lae

The National National

A MAN accused of causing a road accident in Lae last month pleaded not guilty and told the court that the complainant did not produce a valid driving licence to police when the incident occurred.
Paul Pungal, 35, from Togoba in Western Highlands, was charged with driving without due care and attention, appeared before magistrate Stanley Bino.
He was released on a K300 police bail.
He said he was doing a “U” turn in a permitted area when the complainant drove from the Nadzab Airport way and hit his vehicle.
Pungal said the complainant failed to produce his licence to police traffic officers at the police station and was given 24 hours to do so.
According to the police report presented in court by traffic prosecutor Snr Const Cathy Odis, it was alleged that on May 30, at around 6.30am, Pungal, who was working for a security company, parked his vehicle roadside at 4-Mile and went to buy betel nut at a market. He came back, got into his vehicle and after seeing that the road was clear, drove out and did a U turn which caused the accident.
Magistrate Bino adjourned the case to tomorrow for trial and advised the police prosecutor to bring in all state witnesses, including the complainant to also appear in court.

3 comments

  • Common sense;
    1. Driver doing U-turn is at fault – he should have waited for the oncoming vehicle to pass. There is no way an oncoming car will appear out of nowhere and bump into his.
    2. Security vehicles are well known for high speed and dangerous maneuvering as seen every day in Lae.

  • Well..the guy is saying that complainant did not produce a valid driving license at time of accident so he was infact driving without a license causing the accident. Which may mean that he should never have been driving to cause the accident or had complainant refrained from driving as he did not have a driving license than there should not have been an accident. Simple as that and its the traffic law.

  • Driver was a law abiding citizen who had valid class 1 driving license that was authorized by traffic official.

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