Man held over wrestling with police placed on good behaviour bond

By HEZRON KISING
A COURT has suspended a six-month jail term for a man and put him on good behaviour bond after he told the court that he had tried to stop his friends from causing problems and stoning vehicles during the New Year’s celebration when police apprehended him.
Mesak Laivi, 21, of Madang and a resident of 10-Mile settlement outside Lae was charged with resisting police arrest.
However, when Laivi appeared before Lae District Court Magistrate Tera Dawai on Friday he told the court that he was drinking alcohol with his friends beside the Highlands Highway when a group of men who were walking along the highway started throwing stones at them.
That was when his friends retaliated and threw stones back at the men which resulted in some of those stones hitting vehicles travelling on the road.
Laivi told the court that while the stone fight was still going on police intervened and dispersed them.
He told all of his friends to go home and he went looking for one of his friend who was missing.
He found his friend and while on their way home two police officers on patrol arrested him while his friend fled. Laivi was alleged to have wrestled with the arresting officers but told the court he had no intention of assaulting the officer or taking his weapon.
A police report presented by police prosecutor Senior Sgt Albert Sakarias said that Laivi and his friends were stoning vehicles when police intervened.
Laivi and another man were hiding when police caught them.
It was alleged that Laivi wrestled with a police officer while trying to stop police from arresting his friends.
He also tried to remove a gun from the police officer who was arresting him.
Magistrate Dawai told Laivi that his act of wrestling with the police officer could have got him killed or injured but he was fortunate that the officers managed to restrain him.