Man fails to attend hearings, court issues warrant of arrest

A MAGISTRATE has issued a warrant of arrest for a man charged with cyber harassment for failing to turn up to court on three consecutive occasions.
Committal Court Magistrate Peter Balos issued the arrest warrant for Jackson Meta, 28, of Bialla in West New Britain in Waigani after police prosecutor Sgt Sandra Holland told the court that Meta had failed to attend three court hearings for his arraignment.
She said he was yet to be arraigned after he was charged.
“He is out on a bail of K1,200 and has not been attending his hearing dates for arraignment,” she said.
Magistrate Balos ordered that the arrest warrant be reviewed on Dec 12. Police alleged that Meta used his mobile phone to communicate with a Pauline Tibola through her Tiktok videos. Police alleged that Meta was pretending to be someone Tibola knew. They then exchanged numbers.
Meta was allegedly using a fake account and a fake profile picture.
Their messaging began on Sept 2. When Tibola later realised that she was communicating with someone she did not know, she politely asked Meta to stop chatting with her.
But Meta allegedly continued, offering to take her out to expensive hotels for dinner.
The court heard that when Meta realised that Tibola was not interested in him, he allegedly began making negative and insulting comments on her Tiktok videos and WhatsApp messages.
The court heard that a relative of Tibola accosted Meta at a club in downtown Port Moresby and took him to the Boroko Police Station where he was charged with one count of cyber harassment.