Man to stand trial over missing equipment worth K4,000

National

A 26-YEAR-OLD man was committed to stand trial in the National Court for allegedly stealing more than K4,000 worth of company equipment in August.
Lae Committal Court senior magistrate Pious Tapil ruled there were sufficient evidence to commit Eddie Makis, from Lorengau’s Pere village, Manus, to stand trial.
“Evidences show that you were on the ship that transported the equipment,” Magistrate Tapil said.
“You were also working on that ship and that the equipment was retrieved after your wife reported the matter.”
He then ordered the defence counsel to make a submission under Section 96 of the District Court Act on behalf of Makis.
On Aug 14, at about 2pm, at a wharf in Port Moresby, a 20-foot cargo container belonging to a shipping company was broken into and some contents were stolen.
The contents belonged to a company in Lae and the total value of the missing items was K104, 127.40
On Aug 22, in Lae, Makis (an employee of Bismark Maritime), with assistance from one of his colleagues, loaded the items into two garbage bags and handed them to his relative for safe-keeping.
On Sept 13, Makis’ wife lodged a report with Lae Central police after an argument with Makis.
When police noticed some of the items went missing on the ship earlier, they questioned the wife who admitted that her husband stole those items.
Police then took from the wife a Garmin GPS (global positioning system) map 65 multi band valued at K1,500, a microphone video mic valued at K337 and a Canon camera valued at K2,400.
Police then interrogated Makis who allegedly admitted to stealing the items.
The court ordered Makis’ K500 bail and fixed Feb 11 as the date for National Court appearance.